


Tesla and Boone

by xXLeondraXx



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, This may never be finished, boners in chapter 5, but I have like 20 chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 05:38:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13264836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXLeondraXx/pseuds/xXLeondraXx
Summary: I wanted to be able to get with Boone in Fallout: New Vegas. Since I couldn't I did the next best thing and wrote this instead.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 

Tesla got up with the alarm from her Pip-Boy. The whole time she’d been in Novac, she’d spoken to nearly everybody, gathering as much information as she could about the man in the checkered suit that had shot her in the head a couple weeks ago.

Manny Vargas had turned out to be the jackpot when it came to knowledge on the guy. He told her his name was Benny, and the people he was with were the Khans, members of the gang he once ran with before joining the NCR.

She stood and dressed in her reinforced leather armor and gingerly tied her bandanna around her head to hide, or at least somewhat cover, the wounds on her from the gunshot that should ave ended her life. The wounds had closed well and no longer bled, but they were still tender, red and inflamed. Under the gauze they certainly didn’t look too pretty. She wasn’t exactly self-conscious, but she also didn’t like having people stare at the large, white pads of gauze when she was trying to talk to them.

She strapped her rifle, pistol and shotgun into place and habitually packed as many bullets into her pockets as could fit before stepping out of the hotel room, only to let out a groan moments later. Every time she left the room the first thing she saw was the ass-end of Dinky the Dumbass Dinobitch, as she’d started calling it.

The town itself wasn’t bad. The people were nice and it had a hell of a lot of traders running through, most with different guns and armor she loved to barter for.

But that stupid ass dinosaur.

Were she a bigger bitch than she was, she’d burn the stupid thing to the ground.

Even so, she had to admit it _was_ a half decent sniper’s nest, even if one could only see about 180 degrees from it unless sitting outside on top of its head.

Regardless, the dinosaur was where she needed to go. It was 10 at night, and Manny, the daytime sniper and all around great guy, had told her a few days ago that there was a sniper that took over around 9 pm when he left the perch in the dinosaur’s mouth. He’d said the man’s name was Craig Boone, or just Boone, and he was thus far the only person she’d yet to talk to.

Wanting to make sure she could get together every last scrap of evidence on Benny that she could, she’d resolved to go talk to the man when she had the time. She’d exhausted the needs of the townsfolk for help, and had taken a day to herself, so now was the time.

Plus Manny had mentioned that Boone, like himself, was an ex-NCR sniper, and that Manny had been his spotter back when they were enlisted. Though he also mentioned that he and Boone weren’t exactly on speaking terms anymore since Manny had apparently highly disliked Boone’s wife. And apparently things had gotten worse since his wife, Carla, had mysteriously disappeared.

Tesla still couldn’t help but wonder if she’d somehow been involved with the NCR before being a courier. The things she could do just didn’t seem… average. Any time she ran across NCR soldiers of status or rangers, she asked if any of them recognized her. If they knew her. She’d done the same with Manny, but Manny was certain that he didn’t know her. And since he’d been Boone’s spotter, it was unlikely that Boone knew her either. Still, she had to ask.

Tesla decided to forgo the stairs. Instead she hopped over the railing, landed crouched on the railing of the stairs below her then jumped off and landed on the ground. After about a week of being conscious and in a stint of boredom, she found she had amazing balance for things like this. She’d decided to do it whenever she could, hoping that it might jog more memories, or at least muscle memories, left over from before she’d been shot.

Readjusting her hunting rifle, Tesla made her way to the stairs leading up, quite literally, into the ass of the dinosaur. “Hey, Cliff,” she greeted when she saw the older man standing behind the counter. Why the hell he was still tending the souvenir shop in the wooden dinosaur’s lower intestines at 10pm, she had no idea. Most people liked to sleep, but apparently not Cliff.

“Welcome back. Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“Actually I’m looking for the night sniper. Boone?”

“Uh, yeah. He’s up there already. Though I should warn you, he’s not exactly friendly,” Cliff said, a strange, uncomfortable note in his voice.

Tesla shrugged. “He’s the only one in Novac I haven’t spoken to yet. Can’t just leave without making an attempt. He might know something important.”

“Well then I wish you good luck. A _lot_ of good luck. And patience.”

Tesla waved at Cliff before ascending the stairs and walking through the door into the sniper’s nest. She saw a man in a white-ish shirt, brown pants and a red beret. Manny wore a similar beret, but staring at this man, she realized she’d seen him before in passing when she was in the motel courtyard at night. She took a step closer, the man seeming completely oblivious to her presence.

“Are you Craig Boone?”

The man spun around, startled. “Goddamn it! Don’t sneak up on me like that.” he snapped at her, his tone short and venomous.

She raised an eyebrow at his tone. “Sneak up on you? I walked through a door four feet from your backside. I wouldn’t exactly call that sneaking,” she said, pointing to the door with her thumb. “Still, I’ll take that as a yes.”

The man gave her an impressive scowl. “What do you want?”

“What? Expecting company?” she asked, the slightest teasing tone in her voice. Most people probably wouldn’t poke at a guy that didn’t seemed thrilled at their presence and who was also packing a rather large rifle, but she was by no means not armed herself.

Plus, if he did something stupid, she could always kick him out of the dinosaur. Boone was a pretty big, muscular guy, but she knew how to knock an enemy off balance, no matter their size.

“Yeah. I guess maybe I am. But not like you,” he said, his tone quick and evasive. The man paused as he looked at her. “Huh. Maybe it should’ve been you I was expecting all along,” he then said, his tone going from angry to thoughtful, as though his mind was half elsewhere. “Why are you here?” he asked, his tone short once again.

“Easy, tiger. Look, if you’re looking for someone in particular, I could tip you off if I see them.”

“Yeah, well if you see anyone wearing Legion crimson or a lot of sports equipment, you just let me know,” he half growled. From the tone of his voice, this man clearly had a beef with the Legion.

Tesla snorted. “If I don’t paint the rocks with their _inner_ crimson first, I’ll be sure to point you their way,” she replied intensely. Ever since she’d woken up she’d felt like she had some issue with the Legion, though didn’t know what. Then again, what she saw in Nipton had given her plenty of reason to shoot on sight. She didn’t care how muddied in debauchery a city was, no one deserved what Nipton had received. Not even the Legion.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he said.

“If you must know, I’m meeting new people. And since I’ve met everyone in Novac save for you, you’re the only new people left. Plus, the view from inside the dinosaur’s mouth is much nicer than seeing the stupid thing from the outside.”

His raised his head a bit, as though looking at her down his nose. “I think you’d better leave,” he said, his tone a clear warning.

“Calm down, Hostile Magoo,” she said, her hands raised in front of her. “Just making friendly conversation.”

“I don’t have friends here,” he said, a hint of sad resignation in his voice.

“Well, technically, I’m not _from_ here,” Tesla replied with a wry smile, shrugging her shoulders.

“No. No you’re not, are you?” He paused for a moment, clearly contemplative as he stared at her through his tinted glasses. The tilted his head the slightest bit to the side. “Maybe you shouldn’t go. Not just yet.”

Her eyes drifted to the rifle in his hands. “Gonna try and kill me now, big guy?” she asked, though she smiled when she did so.

“Not unless you give me a reason,” he replied back.

“Ah. Good. Because I’d advise against it. Someone already tried that a couple weeks back. Didn’t work well. And he had the advantage of having me tied up in an open space. That rifle you have there would be pretty cumbersome in a small space like this unless you have a pistol hidden in your pants.”

He scowled anew at her mocking tone.

“Well if you don’t want to shoot me and throw me out of Dinky like a regurgitated meat chunk, then I assume you need something. Seems like most people in this town do, and I’ve helped them all so far. Wouldn’t mind helping someone with such impeccable taste in berets as you.” She crossed her arms across her chest, crossed one leg over the other and leaned her shoulder back against the wall. “So what d’you need?”

Boone paused and stared at this strange woman. She seemed so easygoing. And he knew that she had been helping the people of Novac. He’d heard of her arrival a week or so ago, and ever since she’d been helping. She killed a nightkin master that’d been killing the McBride’s Brahmin, checked on Ranger Station Charlie for Ranger Andy, and even cleared out the REPCON building of ghouls _and_ nightkin, all without being killed in the process. She’d also rented a room and had been trading with Cliff and the merchants that came through. Even drumming up business for the local doctor.

This woman had breezed in out of who-knows-where and seemed to fix every problem she had found in her short stay here.

Maybe, just maybe… he could trust her with _his_ problem….

“I need someone I can trust,” Boone finally said, making up his mind. Though he remained tense, he eased a little bit. “You’re a stranger. That’s a start.”

“Ok. So solitary night-time sniper man who shoots unsavories on sight only trusts strangers, then?” she asked, amusement in her tone.

“I said it was a start,” he replied in that short tone of his. “This town… nobody looks me straight in the eye anymore.”

“Well judging by your demeanor they probably think even a sideways glance will land a bullet in their cranium,” Tesla replied. “Still, I think someone once said familiarity breeds contempt. So what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to find something out for me,” Boone replied, fire entering his voice. “I don’t know if there’s anything to _find_ , but I need someone to try.”

Tesla’s smile faded. His tone was… dark. Vengeful. Angry. “What needs to be found?” she asked.

“My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch. They knew when to come, and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don’t know who.”

Tesla started to gnaw unconsciously on the inside of her cheek when she heard that. No wonder the guy was so hostile. If he didn’t have a good reason to be, then nobody did.

To have his wife taken from him while he stood watch over the city, trying to keep those very people out. And suspecting that someone in the very place he protected had set her up….

If it were her in his shoes, she’d want blood. Rivers of it.

“Are you trying to track her down?” Tesla asked. “Any excuse to hunt down and kill some of those cactus humping ba….”

“My wife is dead,” he said curtly. “I want the son of a bitch who sold her.”

She stopped short. There was no sadness in his voice. Just the quick reply of someone who wanted to drop the subject immediately. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. For a moment she thought better of asking, but she had to. “How do you know your wife is dead?”

Boone let out a slight sigh, his grip on the hunting rifle in his hands tightening. “I know, alright? That’s all you need to know.”

 _Ok. Consider the subject dropped._ “Alright. Say I find the person responsible for her sale. What do you want me to do to them? Or, rather, what do want me to do? I assume you’re the one that wants to ‘send them along their merry way’,” she replied, malice in her voice.

“Bring him out in front of the nest here while I’m on duty. I work nights.”

 _Him?_ Tesla thought to herself.

He shifted his rifle into one hand and took the beret off his cleanly shaven head. “Here’s my NCR beret. It’ll be our signal, so I know you’re standing with him.” His tone dropped to a seething note. “And I’ll take care of the rest. I need to do this myself.”

 _Again, ‘him’_. _Sounds like Boone has his suspicions on who done it._ Tesla took the beret from his outstretched hand and looked down at it, running her thumb contemplatively over the fabric. “Alright, Boone. I’ll see what I can do to help.”

“Good. I’ll make it worth your while,” he said, his tone picking up.

“No. Gratis. This one’s on me,” Tesla replied, holding a finger up at him.

More than he was surprised with her reply, Boone was surprised with the look in her eyes. Her blue eyes burned with fire, as though she herself had been the one who had been wronged. She looked like she wanted the blood he had craved since the disappearance of his wife.

“Then there’s one more thing,” he added, watching as she tucked the beret into the chest of her armor to keep it concealed from view. “We shouldn’t speak again. Not until this is over. No one in town knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never know. Or the Legion will be after me next.”

“Not a problem,” Tesla replied once she finished stuffing the beret into her armor. She looked down at her Pip-Boy. The two of them had been talking for a bit. It was now around 10:30. “Most people will be asleep right now and I think barging into their homes and hotel rooms in the ass crack of night to ask them about your wife might seem… oh, what’s the word I’m looking for… pretty damn suspicious.”

“That’s three words.”

“He can count. Lovely. At any rate, I’ll start first thing in the morning. Besides, I still have to go scope out HELIOS One. Word is NCR is having some issues with the plant and I’m putting it upon myself to see if they need a hand.”

Boone furrowed his brow at that. “You’re helping NCR?”

“ _Been_ helping NCR,” Tesla corrected. “Stopped at Mojave Outpost a bit before I got here and helped out there too, but that’s a story for another day.” She turned to leave, but stopped with her hand on the door handle. She looked back at him. “By the way, you sound like you have a sneaking suspicion on who’s behind what happened to your wife.”

Even through the tinted lenses of his glasses she could see the fire that flared in his eyes. “Yeah, but it’s not important. Not unless you find out it’s who I think it is.”

 _I think you think Manny did it,_ Tesla thought, this time managing to hold her tongue. She inclined her head to Boone. “’Til next we meet,” she said.

“Yeah,” he replied.

This time, his tone had taken a noticeable drop into the depressed, and he turned his back on her to look out through the mouth of Dinky before she even left. Tesla hesitated for just a moment. Something about this man made her want to gently rub his back and tell him things would be fine. But she resisted the urge. He didn’t seem like the type for physical contact. From anyone.

Tesla opened the door to leave, but paused. She turned back to him.

“One more thing,” she said.

Boone half turned to look at her.

“Do you… recognize me at all?” Tesla asked uncertainly, her brow furrowed. “Not from around Novac, but from somewhere else.”

Boone tilted his head a bit at the odd question. Usually people said, “Do I know you from somewhere’, not ‘do you know _me_ from somewhere’. And she had this strange tone in her voice that he couldn’t place. “No,” he replied curtly. “Should I?”

He watched her turn her eyes down at his reply, as if disappointed by it. “’Suppose not. See you later,” she said.

Boone turned back around and waited until he heard the door close behind him before he let out a long sigh. He’d never told his suspicious about his wife being set up to anybody. He’d kept them bottled up inside, not knowing who to trust with the information. If he told someone, and that someone happened to be linked to his wife’s abduction, chances were good he’d never get his revenge.

It was only after she was gone that he realized he hadn’t even asked the woman’s name.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter** **2**

**8 am**

Since it was the first thing she saw every damn day when she walked out of the motel room, Tesla decided to head into Dinky and talk to Cliff first about Boone’s wife. It was 8 in the morning, so she knew he’d be there. They greeted each other when she entered and she leaned against the counter, looking over at him. “I have sort of a… strange question.”

“Well, ask away,” Cliff replied cheerily.

“Do you…” she paused, reconsidering how to phrase her question. “What can you tell me about Boone’s wife?”

Cliff furrowed his brow. “His wife?”

“Yeah. I got to talking to him last night, and he said that she up and vanished one day. He seemed pretty torn up about it,” she replied, making sure to not reveal to him that Boone had told her so much more than ‘she vanished’.

“You got him to talk about Carla? Man, you must have a way with words,” Cliff said.

Tesla shrugged and grinned. “What can I say? I have a silver tongue. It’s forked, but it’s still silver.”

“Concerning his wife, I can’t say we spoke too much. Boone did most of the buying for them. She was in the store once, but she didn’t stay long. Had a look on her face like she’d smelled something sour. But far as I could remember, the gift shop smelled fine. Well… fine as it always does,” he replied with a grin and a shrug.

“Hm. Well, thanks anyways. Oh, and do you have any .308 rounds in stock? I’m running low.”

After buying some ammo and parting with a friendly ‘so long’, Tesla left and went to Ranger Andy’s bungalow. If anyone in this town, save Boone, wouldn’t sell anyone to the Legion it would be the ranger. Still, she liked to be thorough.

Andy answered the door when she knocked and welcomed her inside, the two of them sitting at his table. “What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“So I met Boone,” Tesla replied. “What’s wrong with that guy anyways?" she asked, deciding to play dumb. "He’s kind of a dick.”

“Yeah, he comes across to a lot of people like that, but the man had his wife taken,” Andy replied in a sad tone. “I don’t think he’ll ever be the same as he was. Damn shame,” he said, shaking his head. He looked back at her. “I told the Rangers up at the station to keep an eye out, but there’s just too much ground out there for them to cover. Well, not that they can cover it anymore.”

“Lost his wife? God, poor guy. No wonder he’s an ass,” Tesla said, her tone absolutely convincing. “What can you tell me about her?”

“Well Carla was a knockout. Whenever Boone walked around with her, he always had this funny grin on his face, like he couldn’t believe his luck. I know _we_ couldn’t,” Andy replied with a lit tone and slight grin.

Tesla chuckled at that. “Granted I only met him the one time, but it’s hard to imagine him walking around with a huge grin on his face like that.”

“Well, he was a different man before she disappeared. A happier man, even if he and Manny _did_ have a falling out.” But then his expression changed. “That wasn’t the only reason she stuck out, though.”

“Oh?”

“The girl never minced words. If she’d had better food or hospitality, she’d let you hear it. Trouble was, she usually had.” His tone lightened a bit. “I don’t think she meant it. She really was a sweet girl. I think she just wanted to remind herself that there are still nicer places in the world than Novac. Who could blame her for that?”

“Plenty of people, probably,” Tesla replied. “People don’t like people who are that… well, blunt about things. They don’t like hearing bad things about themselves or what they cook or where they live.”

“True enough.”

The two chatted for a while longer before Tesla left for her next ‘interview’. She was sure it wasn’t Andy who’d done this. He looked and sounded truly sad for Boone. Then again, she’d put on her own convincing performance that she didn’t even know Boone had a wife that had gone missing in the first place.

Her next stop was Manny. Since she’d started talking to people pretty early in the day, Boone had yet to finish his shift in the nest, and Manny was probably just waking up. She knocked at his door and he welcomed her inside.

“To what do I owe this fine visit?” Manny replied with a grin.

“Well I finally had the time to take your advice and go talk to Boone,” Tesla replied, crossing her arms.

This strange looked crossed Manny’s face. “I don’t imagine it was a very long chat. He’s not very talkative.”

“Actually we talked for like half an hour or something, and he mentioned his wife going missing.”

“Really?” Manny asked, surprised. “Can’t believe he told you that. He doesn’t even know you.”

“I guess I just have one of those faces that makes people want to spill their guts to me,” she replied lightly. “But I gotta ask, do you… know anyone that would want to hurt his wife? Stories like this they just… they get me so riled up. I hate hearing crap like this, and for my own piece of mind I thought I might ask.”

“Who would wanna hurt Carla? Man, everybody.”

Tesla’s eyes widened a bit at his reply.

“That girl didn’t have one friend in this whole town.”

“Why’s that? It’s not like you people are hard to get along with. Hell I’ve only been here a week and I’ve had two different people say they were going to name their next kid after me.”

“She didn’t want any friends,” he replied. “She wanted to sit in her room all day and make herself miserable. And she went out of her way to be rude. She upset a _lot_ of people. You wouldn’t have liked her, either.”

“Well with your description, probably not. I’m not much one for the ‘poor me’s’. Hell I got shot in the damn head and buried alive, but you don’t see me complaining about it,” she said with a laugh.

“Exactly, man. Hell, if Carla would’ve been more like you…. I dunno. Honestly, Boone could’ve done better. Don’t know what he saw in her.”

“Now, don’t take this next question the wrong way. I think you’re great and I don’t think you’d hurt a fly unless it was a mutated one and you had to do it to save a baby, but there’s this tiny little voice in the back of my head bashing it with a hammer and it won’t stop until I ask. So, did you have anything to do with Carla’s disappearance?”

To her surprise, Manny took the question much better than she thought. He didn’t even sound offended at her asking when he replied. “Believe me. When I heard the news, my first thought was, ‘I owe somebody. Big.’ I figured Boone would come around after a while. But he hasn’t, and I’m starting to think that if he doesn’t find her that things will _never_ go back to the way they were.”

“Well, come on, Manny. You might not’ve liked her, but it sounds like Boone was head over heels for this woman. I mean, try and put yourself in his shoes. What if the person you loved more than anything disappeared one day and you couldn’t find her? Would _you_ ever be the same again?” Tesla asked.

Manny looked down at that. “No. I guess I wouldn’t.”

Tesla reached forward and rubbed his shoulder affectionately. “Don’t worry about it, Manny.” She stepped back. “I’ve taken enough of your time. I think it’s about your shift.”

The two said their goodbyes and Tesla left. As she left, she saw Boone not ten feet from her. She gave him a quick glance but that was it.

Boone watched from behind his tinted glasses as the woman left Manny’s room. If she saw him at all, she didn’t show it. In fact when the two of them passed within a foot or two of each other, she kept walking as though he were just some stranger she was passing on the street. _Damn. She’s good_ , he had to admit. He’d told her they shouldn’t talk to each other until her investigation was over, but she took it to a whole new level; acting as though they’d never in their lives met.

It made him curious about her. Most people couldn’t hide what they were thinking or feeling like that. When he stepped into his abode, a thought crossed his mind that made him stop in his tracks. Maybe she _didn’t_ care. About him. About his missing wife.

But that didn’t make any sense. He’d seen fury in her eyes last night when he’d told her what he’d told her. Why would she stop caring about it twelve hours later?

Unless… unless Manny had gotten to her. He growled at the thought, balling his hands into fists. What had that son of a bitch said to her? Had he turned her against him?

His momentary spark of fury faded. He should have expected something like that. Nobody ever cared. At the end of the day, he just had himself. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up on her help.

Trying to put it out of his mind, Boone readied himself for bed, hoping he’d be able to sleep.

 

\- - - - -

 

As Tesla made her way to the next person she wanted to talk to, she couldn’t get Jeanie May’s bit out of her head. "I’m not so sure she didn’t just run off on her own," the motel owner had stated.

_Really, Jeannie?_ Tesla thought. From what she’d heard, Carla had been a woman of ‘refinement’. How the hell would this woman, who didn’t even like to walk into the souvenir shop in the dinosaur, possibly be able to make it on her own out in the wasteland? The woman would probably get all of two steps and then run back to the safety of home to wail away her situation.

And the whole, “Trying to get Boone to leave with her,” bit. From what she’d heard Carla had Boone wrapped around her little finger. She probably could’ve gotten him to do anything. Surely she could’ve convinced him to leave if she really worked at it. The woman probably just liked to complain, and would do so wherever she was.

She had a bad feeling about Jeannie May Crawford. It certainly wasn’t the McBrides. Hell, Alice hadn’t even known that Carla wasn’t in Novac anymore. Living on their little Brahmin farm away from the rest of the people, they had no good motive to sell that particular woman into slavery.

Did they have _no_ reason to sell someone into slavery? Not particularly. They’d lost a number of their herd to the nightkin she’d killed, and probably needed money to buy new stock. But why Carla _specifically_? There were people in Novac that lived more on the outskirts. They were easier targets than someone who had an NCR sniper as a husband. Someone who lived in the middle of town not too far from where her husband worked at night.

But Jeannie May… she was something else. Tesla’s mind told her that the woman had motive. She didn’t like Carla, and she didn’t seem to like the idea of Boone leaving. If he left, she’d lose her nighttime sniper, and who knows what would roll into Novac one night without an eagle-eyed sharpshooter at the ready?

On a hunch, Tesla had called Novac a dump to the woman’s face, and Jeannie was livid. Novac was that woman’s life, and she’d do anything she could to keep it safe.

With most other people of import spoken to, only one was left: Old No-Bark. She had to admit, the guy was completely nutso-bonkers, but she liked him. Probably _because_ he was completely nutso-bonkers. The guy was crazy, and because of that people failed to notice him. But _he_ noticed _them_. He seemed to notice _everything_ that happened in Novac. Granted he threw in the crazy when recounting what he’d seen, but he’d nearly hit the nail on the head when he described what was killing the McBride’s Brahmin.

After a brief chat filled with crazy, she gathered that No-Bark had seen Carla’s abduction. He’d even said, very clearly, that one had entered the lobby before prattling on about molerat men from underground.

Tesla decided to busy herself with other matters for the rest of the day. Once night fell, she’d sneak into the lobby and look for more clues.

 

\- - - - -

 

When 9:30pm rolled around, Tesla left her room. She paused when she saw Manny leaving Dinky and heading back to his room. She leaned against the railing with her arms crossed and looked up at the sky while he walked across the courtyard. He waved at her when she glanced back down at him and she gave him a friendly wave back. Only when she heard the door to his room open and close did she quietly walk down the stairs and head to the lobby.

Like she figured it would be, the front desk was empty. Had Jeannie May still been in there, she would’ve used the excuse of getting a sarsaparilla for why she was in there, but she didn’t have to.

The first time she’d checked into the motel, she’d glimpsed a floor safe behind the desk. Now, she moved to it immediately and skillfully picked the lock. If there was any evidence of a slave trade deal, it would be in the safe.

Inside couple a few weapons, some caps, a few stacks of pre-war money, and there, folded up, a piece of paper. She took the paper out and left the rest.

Deciding it would probably be stupid to read the letter inside the lobby where someone could walk in on her, she closed the safe and made to leave, but stopped. Thinking twice she went to the soda machine and grabbed one of the sweet beverages, tucking the note into her pocket. Just in case anyone saw her leaving, at least she’d have an excuse.

Leaving the lobby, she returned to her room and sat on the edge of her bed under the light so she could read the note.

The very first sentence had every single last piece of damning evidence one could hope for. It mentioned some Legion council buying from Jeannie May Crawford, named in the letter, one Carla Boone….

And her unborn child.

Tesla put a hand over her mouth at that. _Did he know?_ She asked herself. _Was she far enough along for him to know?_ If he did, he hadn’t said a word about it.

She continued reading the letter. Not only was Jeannie named, but she was named twice. And the Legion had _prepai_ _d_ for Carla’s baby. 1000 caps in total. Half now, and half to be paid when Carla gave birth. So Carla must’ve been far enough along for others to know she was pregnant, which was odd. Not a single person she'd spoken to had mentioned it.

Tesla read the note over and over, as though hoping she had horribly misread it. Unbeknownst to her, while reading she had removed Boone’s beret from her armor and was now holding it up to her mouth and nose as she chewed at her lip. She held the beret firmly, so hard, even, that her fingers started to hurt.

She had no idea how many times she’d read that bill of sale. She could probably recite the whole damn thing, letter for letter, from memory. Cold, seething rage burned within her. She couldn’t even imagine what Boone would feel when he read this.

She considered going to Boone now and showing this to him before she brought Jeannie before the dinosaur she loved so fucking much. But she resisted. Like as not Boone would become incredibly irrational. Any man would if they were reading this about their wife.

She put the note down and closed her eyes. It was only now that her eyes weren’t frantically scanning the letters, that she realized she had Boone’s beret to her face. She moved to pull it away, but stopped. She calmly inhaled the scent from the beret. While one would imagine something that was on a person’s head constantly to reek of… well, sweaty scalp, something about the scent of his beret, the scent of Boone, was… extremely calming. She inhaled the scent from the beret deeply, feeling a warm calm flow through her.

_Oh, yeah. I’m sure he’d love this. “Hey, Boone. I started getting super pissed off when I read this bill if sale until I started sniffing your beret like a crazy person, and then I was all better. Weird, right?” Yeah. Think I’ll keep this one to myself._

Tesla checked her pip-boy. It was almost 1 am. She hadn’t realized how long she’d been reading and pondering that letter. It had literally been hours.

Getting up she put the beret back and the letter in one of her pockets. “Alright, Jeannie,” she muttered to herself as she left her room. “Time to say hi to the one that’s gonna ferry you to your final resting place.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 

With a determined stride, Tesla made her way to Jeannie’s house. On the way she concocted a way to get her where she needed to get her. Once at the house she knocked furiously at Jeannie’s door. She had to wait a few minutes before Jeannie opened the door, looking like she had just woken up. “Hey there,” she said. Her brow furrowed. “Is everything alright?” she asked, her tone a bit worried. “Awful late to be dropping in unexpected.”

“Jeannie, I am _so_ sorry to bother you but I… I just… I need someone to talk to,” Tesla said, sounding on the verge of tears.

“Oh, my. What’s wrong, dear? You can tell me.”

Tesla rubbed a hand over her mouth as though she had been shaken by something. “Remember, I told you I don’t really remember anything about myself? That I was shot in the head?”

“Yes?”

“Well… I think I remembered something,” Tesla said. “Something horrible.”

“Oh. Oh my. Come on in, hon. Tell me all about it.”

Tesla looked between Jeannie and the dinosaur, then back. “I… I think I’d feel better if we took a walk. I need to move and get some fresh air.”

“Of course,” Jeannie replied. Stepping out of her house she closed the door. “You just lead the way, dear. And don’t rush yourself. Just talk when you need to.”

“Thank you so much, Jeannie. You’re wonderful.” _Wonderfully dead in like five minutes you spiteful bitch._

Walking away from the house, the two strode along the road. All the while Telsa made up vague comments about being somewhere with fire and smoke and screaming and how horrible it all was and how she was positive it wasn’t just a dream, but one of her memories.

Jeannie didn’t even notice when Tesla lead her over the bridge outside Novac, the two of them stopping on the other side.

“You know, I finally found the time to talk to Boone the other day,” Tesla said, her tone becoming cold.

“Did you now? That poor boy. It’d do him good to have a pretty girl talk to him. Maybe it’ll help him move on and accept his wife leaving him.”

“Yeah. Except it’s kind of hard to get over something like that when you know someone in the town sold the one you love more than life itself to Legion slavers.”

Jeannie turned on Tesla then with a deep scowl. “Now whatever are you talking about?”

Tesla stood to her full height, standing a few inches taller than Jeannie. “I know exactly what happened,” Tesla said. “All it took was about a day of sleuthing, some good-old puzzle solving, and one crazy old guy that saw people go into the Dino Dee-Lite lobby the night Carla was taken away.”

“Now I don’t know what you’re insinuating….”

“’We, the representatives of the Counsul Officiorum, have this day bargained and purchased from Jeannie May Crawford of the township of Novac the exclusive rights to ownership and sale of the slave Carla Boone for the sum of one thousand bottle caps, and those of her unborn child for the sum of five hundred bottle caps, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged.’” Tesla recited from memory. “Sound familiar?”

_What the hell is she doing?_ Boone wondered. He’d seen the woman leave the town with Jeannie. The woman had seemed frantic about something, her general tone, though not her words, reaching his ears as they walked close to the dinosaur. But now, as he looked through his scope at the two of them, her entire demeanor had changed dramatically. This was the vengeful woman he’d seen the other night when he spoke to her about his wife.

He watched as she spoke for a bit in what looked like an unbroken sentence, then Jeannie’s face went pale as a ghost. He furrowed his brow, wondering what she’d just said to Jeannie.

“Now then, I may have lost most of my memories a few weeks ago when I was blasted in the brain, but I know vile and disgusting when I see it. And boy am I looking at it now. So,” Tesla reached into her armor and pulled out Boone’s beret, flapping it out a bit, “if I were you, I would start running very fast. Maybe zig-zag a little bit. Give Boone a little fun before he puts a bullet in your head. Oh, and trust me. This bullet won’t be like mine. This one will leave absolutely irreparable damage, and your festering corpse will be left out here for the radscorpions.”

Boone furrowed his brow when he saw the terrified look on Jeannie’s face, and then a flash of red. The woman had his beret in hand. His own hands tightened around his rifle. _Wait._ _Her_ _?_ She _did it?_

Tesla looked at Jeannie, a cold grin on her face. “Run, Jeannie May Crawford. Run for your life.” Then, she put the beret on her head to signal Boone.

Boone watched as Jeannie took off running when the woman put his beret on. He trembled in anticipation for a moment, but then his military training kicked in and the trembling stopped. He became like a statue, resolute in his desire to kill. He carefully observed as Jeannie bobbed and weaved over the terrain. The woman must have told her that he was going to kill her, because she certainly ran like she was about to die.

But he was a trained military sniper. She was just a civilian, and she couldn’t outrun a bullet.

Tesla watched Jeannie run. For several seconds everything was silent, save for the woman’s footfalls. Then, a single shot rang out and Jeannie’s head burst into pieces like a ripe cactus packed with cherry bombs. She grinned, then looked up to the sniper’s nest in the dinosaur. She could clearly see Boone there, his rifle in both hands across his chest.

Boone looked down at the woman in his red beret as she looked up at him. His heart was hammering in his chest and adrenaline coursed through his veins. Jeannie May Crawford was dead. This woman had clearly thought that the older woman was the one responsible for his wife’s capture.

But doubt rang in his mind. He’d shot her, but he’d yet to see the actual proof of her involvement. Though the cold part of him didn’t care. Jeannie had hated Carla. He wouldn’t say he was sad to see the spiteful bitch dead.

He watched the woman walk back toward the dinosaur until he couldn’t see her anymore, then waited. He didn’t have to wait long before he heard the first door open and close. Her light, nearly soundless footfalls coming up the stairs. He turned when the door behind him opened, coming face to face with the woman who still wore his beret. This close, he had to admit that it looked good on her.

“That’s it then,” he said, his voice calm and level. “How did you know?”

“Several things,” Tesla replied, her voice equally calm. “I spoke to everybody about Carla. But the things Jeannie said… didn’t add up. Wouldn’t make sense for a single woman with no real combat training to leave, alone, in the middle of the night and walk into the wasteland to ‘find somewhere better’. Jeannie also seemed worried that Carla was going to convince you to leave. If you left, there’d be no one to stand in this stupid dinosaur all night and keep her precious town safe.”

Boone furrowed his brow, rage sparking within him at her answer. “You mean you had me shoot a woman because you thought her story was weird?” he snarled.

Tesla put her hand up. “Calm down, Boone. You didn’t let me finish.” She pulled the paper out of her pocket, but hesitated. _He has to see it._ “I found the bill of sale,” she said quietly, handing it over to Boone. “Jeannie kept it in the safe in the lobby.”

Boon took the folded up paper and looked down at it. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’d be like her to keep paperwork.” Still looking at the folded paper he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sack full of caps. He held it toward the woman. “Here. This is all I can give. I think our dealings are done here.”

Tesla clenched her jaw at the hollow tone of his voice. She held her hand up. “I told you I was doing this free of charge. You’re money’s no good to me.”

Boone finally looked away from the paper and to her. All day he’d been certain that she’d stopped caring about all of this. That Manny had turned her against his cause. In fact, up until now he was certain that Manny had been the one to set up his wife.

“Well, thanks,” he said, pocketing the caps.

Tesla took the beret off of her head, though she was reluctant to. She didn’t have her bandanna with her, and she didn’t exactly like to flaunt the gauze pads over the bullet wounds on her head. “So, I guess you’ll be wanting this back,” she said, holding it out to him.

Boone hesitated, his eyes glancing up to the gauze pads on her head that signaled some kind of wound. He didn’t miss how she turned her head a bit away from him and tried to brush her hair over the gauze that was now facing him. Whatever the wounds were, it didn’t seem like she enjoyed others looking at them.

Plus, the beret looked good on her.

“Keep it,” Boone replied. Reaching into one of his other pockets he pulled out another beret and put it on.

Tesla smirked and put the beret back on. “It must look good on me if you’re willing to let me keep it.”

Boone said nothing at that.

Tesla stepped toward him, making him instinctuallyback away from her a few steps. She stopped next to the teeth of the dinosaur and pulled her own rifle out, looking down the iron sights at the corpse that was once Jeannie May Crawford.

Boone stared at her like this. Her form with that rifle was perfect. And with the beret…. If she had NCR armor on, no one would be able to tell her from a 1st Recon sniper.

“So,” she said as she looked down her rifle, “does this make you an outlaw now?”

“No. People die out there. Often enough that no one worries about blame.” He took a breath. “They’re too anxious to forget it happened in the first place, I guess. Besides, I was on break when it happened.”

Tesla lowered her rifle, propping one of her feet up on the lip between two of the teeth as she continued to stare out into the wasteland. “What’ll you do after this?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Boone replied truthfully. He’d been thinking about it all day. “I won’t be staying, I know that. I don’t see much point in anything right now, except hunting Legionaries.” He looked toward the wasteland. “Maybe I’ll wander. Like you.”

“Might seem that way, but I don’t just wander,” Tesla said. “I have a goal. A mission.” She said. “Someone I have unfinished business with,” she said, her tone cold. “And on the way, I’m hoping to find something.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“Who the hell I am would be nice,” she replied quietly.

Boone furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

Tesla put her rifle on her shoulder and turned to look at Boone. “I mean I was shot in the head, buried alive, and now I don’t know who I am aside from a name and an apparently uncanny ability to work my way around a rifle. It’s why I asked if you knew me. Thought I might’ve been NCR before I was ‘Courier Six’. No luck thus far, though.”

Boone remained silent, unsure how to respond to that. A shot to the head would explain the two gauze pads he'd seen when she'd taken the beret off, and he knew it was possible to survive a headshot and still live a normal life depending on the gun used. But buried alive? How the hell did a person get shot in the head, buried alive and _then_ go back to being a functional human and not a corpse?

Something dawned on him just then. “I never asked your name,” he said.

She shrugged nonchalantly. “You had more important things in mind than my name, but if you want it, it’s Tesla.”

The two of them stood there silently, looking out onto the wastelands for a bit. Tesla turned to Boone once more. “Come with me,” she said. “Let’s go after the Legion together.”

Boone looked at her and furrowed his brow at her strange and sudden request. Maybe she really _ha_ _d_ been shot in the head. “You don’t want to do that,” he said, his voice cold.

“We’ll kill more with the two of us. Besides, I thought snipers worked in pairs. You’re a sniper. I’m… apparently a sniper. I suppose. I’m not a spotter, though. Well, that I know of.”

“Hnh. Yeah. Working on your own, you’re a lot less effective,” Boone agreed, looking off as he contemplated this. “I’ve been there and paid for it. But this isn’t gonna end well.”

Tesla snorted a laugh at that, resting the butt of her rifle on her hip. “What’s gonna happen? I’m gonna get shot in the head again? Worst case scenario I just stay dead next time.”

“Worst case scenario, you end up a Legion slave,” Boone shot back. “I don’t think you know what they do with women.”

“First of all, having another person with me to help watch my back will _d_ _e_ crease my chances of ending up a slave. Second, I know plenty,” Tesla replied. “True, I’ve not been on the receiving end and it’s not like I’ve watched them rape women until they die, but I know I hated the Legion before I was shot. Don’t know why but…” she paused and looked off for a moment before looking back at him. “You heard what happened to Nipton?” she asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” Boone replied. “Legion raiding party went through. Killed everyone.”

“I told you yesterday I did some running around for the NCR at Mojave Outpost. One of their snipers, woman called Ghost, saw the smoke rising. Asked me to go check it out for her. I figured why not? Went there and saw the whole damn thing first hand. Tire fires full of burning corpses, Powder Gangers strapped up on crucifixes, heads on pikes. There was so much blood, piss, shit and vomit it turned the dusty roads into this thick, putrid mud.” Tesla trailed off.

Boone looked over at her when she stopped talking. The look on her face was one he recognized. It was the thousand-yard stare of a seasoned soldier that had seen things no human should ever see.

Tesla furrowed her brow as she thought. The memory of Nipton seemed to spark… something. Like a phantom of a memory. She knew it was there, but she couldn’t touch it. “Right there in the middle of it all was the raiding party,” she said quietly, only half paying attention to her own words.

“And?”

Boone’s voice brought her back into her own head and she looked at him. “What else? I went up to them and this guy, Vulpes Inculta, started spouting about the glory of the Legion and how he was going to let me go so I could spread the word of what they were doing. Their mistake. Second they turned their backs I opened fire. Killed everyone, including the dogs, except for Vulpes. Him I shot in the foot and one hand. Told him I wanted _him_ to tell the Legion about _me_. Smelly bastard limped of like a whipped bitch after that, vowing revenge.”

Boone thought silently about what Tesla had just told him. One lone person against an entire raiding party and their mongrels? Seemed too outlandish to be true. But after seeing the way she held her rifle like an absolute professional, and after hearing all the things she’d done for Novac, clearing out a Legion raiding party was probably no problem for her.

“You seem more than capable,” Boone said. “Why do you want me to go with you?” he asked.

“Like I said, snipers work in pairs. Plus the company would be nice on the road. Not to mention I wouldn’t mind hanging around with somebody that enjoys putting lead into Legion skulls.”

“Thought you just wanted to ‘do your mission',” he said. “Find out who you are.”

“I do, but I also stop when I can to help the NCR and most other people I find along the way. And you don’t help the NCR without pissing off the Legion and running into them from time to time.”

Boone said nothing as he considered it.

“It’s that, or stay up here every night in Dinky the Dumbass Dinobitch’s mouth watching over a town you don’t even like. Or maybe wandering around on your own, but like you said, lone snipers are less effective. At least this way you’d have backup. If nothing else I’m good with a rifle and pistol and am apparently good at field dressing wounds. Your call, though. You’re a grown man. You can make your own choices.”

Boone sighed at that. She was right. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Hold on, now,” Tesla said. “I can get you’re probably chomping at the bit to leave, but,” she looked at the note in his hand, “you need to read that first.”

Boone looked down to the note in his hand. He knew he should read it, but part of him didn’t want to. He already knew his wife had been sold. What point was there in reading about it? “I’ll read it later,” he replied curtly.

_Does he know?_ Tesla wondered. “Boone… what would your reaction be if I told you that your wife wasn’t the only one that was taken from you that night?” she asked cryptically.

Boone said nothing as he looked at her through his sunglasses. She couldn’t really tell what he was thinking.

“Boone, you _really_ need to read that bill of sale,” Tesla insisted. She moved more toward the center of the dinosaur’s row of teeth. “And I don’t think you want to do it here. Go back to your motel room and read it. I’ll stay up here. Finish up your shift for you.”

Boone wanted to ask why, but Tesla’s tone was insistent, and almost like she knew something that he didn’t. “Did you read this?” he asked, holding up the note.

“I did. That’s why I know you _need_ to read it, whether you want to or not,” Tesla replied, her voice taking a ‘don’t question me’ tone. “Go read it,” she said, her voice taking a softer note. “I’ll stay up here.” She hefted her rifle down in front of her. “I may not have a scope, but I’m still a crack shot with this thing.”

Boone looked at her for a bit, hesitating. He looked at the note in his hand. Without another word, he left the nest and headed back to his motel room. Once inside he turned on the lights, set his rifle down and sat on the bed, all the while staring at the small piece of paper.

As he sat there, he stared at the folded paper. The longer he stared, the more his hands shook. He replayed what Tesla said over and over. She seemed to imply that there was something in this paper that he didn’t know about.

If it was what he thought it was, however, then she was so very, very wrong.

Steeling himself, he unfolded the bill of sale and began to read. He clenched his jaw until his teeth hurt. When he was done reading the bill, he crinkled it up between his hands and put his forehead against his fists.

At that moment, all he wanted to do was scream, but he resisted.

_That fucking bitch_ , Boone snarled to himself, conjuring up an image of Jeannie’s corpse lying out in the Wasteland. He’d known that Carla had been pregnant when she was captured. They’d even started picking out names. Or trying to, at least. They could never agree on it.

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Carla had been pregnant, and even so Jeannie still sold her to the Legion. The greedy bitch had even picked up a sum for his unborn child.

Suddenly he was back on the cliff overlooking the sale of other human beings to Legion soldiers. He saw Carla through the scope of his rifle. And then….

Guilt ripped through him anew like a hot knife. His entire body shook as stinging tears managed to escape his eyelids.

Opening his eyes, Boone looked over to the bedside table, and to the revolver that sat upon it, the metal dull in the light of the room. Reaching over the grabbed the revolver, looking down at it.

How could he live with it? When he’d found his wife, he had thought that nothing could match the guilt he’d felt. He’d longed for death ever since. He’d managed to make himself numb to it by making his life as simple as humanly possible. By concerning himself only with eating, sleeping, and standing in the dinosaur night after night.

But now that the person responsible for Carla’s sale was dead and he had the concrete evidence of it. It ripped the wounds of his wife and child’s fate open anew.

He couldn’t….

Clenching his jaw, Boone lowered his head, putting the cold barrel of the revolver against his temple. He pressed the gun against his head until it hurt. His hand shook as he slowly pulled back the hammer, putting his finger on the trigger.

One twitch, and it was over. One twitch of his finger and he would finally pay for what he had done.

He put pressure on the trigger of the pistol, but stopped when he heard a knock at his door. He opened his eyes and looked over, thinking he might have been hearing things. When he heard the knock again, though, he slowly lowered the revolver.

“Boone?” he heard Tesla’s muffled call from behind the door. “You awake?”

Boone put the revolver down on the bed. It was only then that he realized his face was streaked with tears. Removing his sunglasses he stood and quickly wiped his face clean as he walked toward the door. Putting his sunglasses back on he opened the door.

To his surprise, the sky was already turning light blue. But probably more shocking than that was Tesla standing before his door with NCR armor neatly organized in her arms. “Shift’s over,” she said. “Well, nearly over. Knocked off a little early,” she said with a bit of a smile. Her smile faded a bit when she took in Boone’s state. “You look rough,” she said, her tone kind. “You alright?”

_No._ “Yeah,” Boone replied, his voice hollow.

Tesla glanced from Boone’s eyes to a mark on the side of his head. Her eyes then slid into his room until they fell to a revolver sitting on his bed next to an imprint where someone had clearly just been sitting. She looked back at Boone. _Looks like my timing couldn’t have been better,_ she thought.

She held the armor toward him. “Ranger Jackson gave this to me when I was at Mojave Outpost. Dunno if he meant to give me men’s armor or if he just gave it to me on accident, but it’s too big for me. Kept it, though. Dunno why.”

Boone looked at her blankly as she spoke.

Tesla paused for a bit to see if Boone would say anything. When he remained silent, she continued. “Anyway, I didn’t know if you still had your armor from your time in the NCR. Thought this might fit you, granted you don’t mind wearing their armor. Figured walking into the wasteland in a t-shirt and pants was just asking to be shot repeatedly.”

“I still have my armor,” he replied shortly.

Tesla paused at the tone of his voice. He sounded like he wanted her gone. She sighed. “Well, take it anyway. If nothing else, you can use it for repairs. If you still don’t want it I’ll go take it to HELIOS One.”

Boone furrowed his brow. “It would take an hour just to get there.”

Tesla shrugged. “I could go for a morning run.” She waited for Boone to do something. Or say something. Anything really. But he just stood there stiffly in the doorway, hand on the handle. She brought the armor back closer to her, a bit crestfallen. She wanted to help this man, but he didn’t seem to want the help. At least not now. She just hoped that when she walked away he didn’t pick the revolver back up.

“HELIOS One it is then,” she said and turned to leave.

Boone watched as she started to walk away, his hand tightening on the door handle. He flexed his jaw a few times. “Wait.”

Tesla turned back around and looked over at Boone.

“I’ll take it,” he said quietly.

A small smile on her face, Tesla returned to stand in front of Boone and held the armor out to him. This time he took it from her, and she couldn’t help but notice the way his muscular arms adjusted to the weight. _Focus, Tess. Prioritize. Ogle later._

“Thanks,” Boone said, his voice still low and ragged.

“No problem.” Though Boone seemed like the kind of guy that didn’t exactly enjoy physical contact from others, Tesla couldn’t help but step forward until she was standing in the doorframe so she could put a comforting hand on one of his broad shoulders.

Boone’s whole body tensed when Tesla put her hand upon him. His shoulder twitched a bit as he went to shake her hand off, but stopped when she lightly squeezed his shoulder and gave him a warm smile that seemed to banish some of the pain he’d had since reading the note. Her hand lightly rubbed his shoulder from front to back.

“Remember, Boone,” she said, her tone soothing. “The longer you live, the more Legion slavers die. Things hurt now, but don’t rush to a permanent solution to temporary problems.”

Boone said nothing at that, his face stoic. Her slender hand ran from his shoulder and down the back of his arm to his elbow where she gave another kind squeeze. The touch, though light, left warmth in its wake. When she lowered her hand, he almost didn’t want her to. Wanted to feel her comforting touch again.

“Try and get some sleep,” Tesla said. “I know you want to leave as soon as possible, but take some time to rest. Try and clear your mind. Our next stop is Boulder City, and chances are unlikely that it’s going anywhere anytime soon.”

She turned and took a few steps away, but stopped and quickly came back. Boone watched as she fished around in her pocket and came back with a key. She held it to him.

“What’s that for?” he asked as he shuffled the armor around and grabbed the key.

“My motel room,” she replied. “Top floor, one on the end closest to the lobby.”

Boone’s look darkened. “I don’t…”

“Calm down, Boone. It’s not like that,” she said. “Consider me moral support. You don’t have to be alone with this.”

Without another word Tesla turned and headed back to her room.

Boone stood silently in his doorway for a few more moments before he shut the door with his foot and returned to the bed, setting the armor down on the mattress. He walked around the bed and sat down where he had been sitting before Tesla had knocked upon his door. He looked at the revolver on the bed, then down at the key in his hand. He grabbed the revolver and looked at it for a moment before leaning over and putting it into the drawer of the end table.

_Maybe it should’ve been you I was expecting after all,_ he thought. The last few weeks Boone had had this feeling like he was expecting someone. He didn’t know why. He’d just woken up one day, and ever since he’d been waiting for someone or something to show up. Be it coincidence or not that Tesla had blown into town like a tumbleweed and helped him find the one responsible for his wife’s sale into slavery, he didn’t know.

Letting out a tired sigh, Boone lightly set the key to Tesla’s room on the top of the bedside table. Doing the same with his glasses he turned until he was lying on the bed, not bothering to take his boots off. He would try and sleep for now.

It was all he could think to do.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just for a little behind the scenes, I have a specific save game I used to write this fic. The events of the fic directly mirror what happened to me in the game. The legion attack on the way to helios and the ranger giving my character the radio when I got to helios were two things that happened as I was playing this part.

**Chapter** **4**

 

Tesla sighed. Though she’d been awake for a hell of a long time, having only taken a nap before leaving her room at 9:30 pm last night, sleep still eluded her. She’d spoken to everyone in the town. Gotten all the information she needed to track the man named Benny down. And she had, in the process, taken on an emotionally damaged ex NCR sniper.

He was one of the reasons she couldn’t sleep. She was worried about him. With the mark on his head and the revolver on the mattress, it was clear what he’d intended on doing just before she arrived. If she’d been any later, Boone may have been no more.

As it were, one of the reasons she couldn’t sleep was she kept expecting to hear a gunshot from the floor below. The thought of it kept her awake.

And, to a lesser degree, thoughts of returning HELIOS One to working order. She’d gone there for a bit the other day, but only to talk and get some information. She wanted to get the plant back up and running before she left. It only made sense since she was in the area, and they’d told her that the power would be routed to Camp McCaren and New Vegas: Two places she certainly intended on visiting.

Giving up on sleep, Tesla got up and donned her armor and weapons. She was just getting her pistol holster onto her thigh when she heard a knock at the door. She finished buckling the holster into place and holstered her pistol as she walked to the door, opening it to find Boone standing on the other side.

Like he usually did, he furrowed his brow when he saw her. “Where are you going?” he asked, his tone edgy.

“Can’t sleep,” she replied. “I was actually just about to go down and see if you were still awake. Figured I might as well go help out with HELIOS One while we’re still here. Thought you might want to come along if you were up. It’s the last thing I have to do in the area.”

Boone seemed to relax at that. “Yeah,” he replied. “Sure.”

He stepped aside so Tesla could leave the room, closing the door behind her. She pulled the beret he’d given her out of one of her pockets and put it on. She then looked him up and down. “Troops said that before the Brotherhood left they activated some sort of security system in HELIOS,” she said. “Robots, probably. That place looks like it would have robots. So if I were you I’d get your armor. Extra rounds.” She patted him on the chest and moved around him. He followed her as she headed for the stairs. “I’ll be down at the lobby getting some coffee and a bite to eat,” she said as they both walked down the stairs. “I’ll meet you down there.”

“Yeah,” he replied. The two of them parted ways at the end of the stairs: Tesla to the lobby and Boone to his motel room.

Pulling a footlocker out from under the bed once back in his room, Boone opened it to reveal a neat bundle of armor and a _lot_ of ammo. He checked the armor over to make sure it was in working order before putting it on over what he was already wearing. He then filled the pockets with .308 ammo, stimpacks, and anything else he thought he might need, repositioned his combat knife and left the room for the lobby.

When he entered, Tesla was leaning against the counter next to the coffee machine, one of her legs bent and the toe of her boot on the ground. She looked at him when he entered. She quickly looked away from him and grabbed another cup, holding it out to him. He crossed the room and took the cup of hot coffee from her.

“Didn’t put anything in it,” she said. “You seem like a ‘take it black with no sugar’ kind of guy,” she said, taking a sip of her own coffee.

“What makes you say that?” he asked before taking a drink of the bitter stuff.

“Convenience,” Tesla said, looking down into her cup. “You were with the NCR. Worked out in the field. Chances were unlikely that you could spend that extra minute or two prepping your coffee, or even had the additional supplies to do so, so you probably just drank it black. Got used to it after a while and still do it because what’s the point on wasting time with something like a cup of coffee?” She took another swig and looked at him. “Am I right?”

“Uh, yeah,” he replied. She’d hit the nail on the head with that one.

The two of them were silent as they drank their coffee. He noticed after a minute or two that Tesla seemed to be getting a bit fidgety, tapping her foot on the ground and looking around frequently.

“Can I ask you something?” she finally said, breaking the silence.

Boone sighed. “What is it?” he asked.

Tesla clicked her teeth a few times at that short tone of his. “Now that you know who wronged your wife, how do you feel about Manny? Kinda got the feeling you thought it was him that did it.”

“He was a good spotter,” Boone replied simply, looking at the wall in front of him.

“Didn’t the two of you used to be friends?” she asked.

“Yeah. We were,” he said, his tone a bit down.

“Not anymore?”

“No.”

“Hm. Calm down, Boone. You’re talking so much you might just make my ears bleed,” Tesla muttered sarcastically.

The two fell silent again. Boone was just starting to enjoy the silence when Tesla spoke up again.

“So tell me about yourself,” she said. “I mean, we’re going to be hoofing it together. It’d be nice to get to know then guy I’m walking with.”

“If you want. It’s not really my thing,” he replied hollowly. He took another sip of his coffee. “What do you wanna know?”

“What outfit did you serve in the military with?” she asked. “Manny said you served together.”

“First NCR Recon,” he replied. “It’s a sniper battalion. Sees a lot of action.”

Tesla said nothing, opting to listen as he continued.

“They moved us around a lot. I was stationed at Camp Golf for a while. Last I heard they were at Camp McCarran.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard of them,” Tesla replied. “Ranger Ghost at Mojave Outpost talked about them a bit. Highly skilled snipers. Some of the best of the best.” She poured herself another cup of coffee. “How’d you end up joining them?”

“They pick you out if you do well at the firing range. Pays a little better, so I said okay,” he replied, his tone losing a bit of its normal edge. Almost as if he were relaxing a bit.

Tesla took the beret off her head and looked at it. She’d been so distracted, she hadn’t really taken an opportunity to _look_ at the emblem on it. “So these are First Recon berets?”

Boone looked over at her. “Yeah. You can tell by the patch. Bear skull with crossed rifles behind it. Slogan underneath.”

“The last thing you never see.”

Boone paused when she said the slogan at the same time he did. “Yeah. Pretty accurate. And so were we.”

Tesla continued to look at the beret, running her fingers over the patch. “And you just gave this to me?” She looked sideways at him and gave him a small grin. “Don’t think people will get the wrong idea if I wear this around? Think I’m First Recon?”

“If you’re a bad shot, I’ll have to take it back,” he said bluntly.

Tesla chuckled, putting the beret back on. “So what was Camp Golf like?”

“It was on the front line for a while. Only resort in New Vegas no one wanted to get sent to.” He looked down. “Doesn’t have that kind of importance anymore, though. They pulled most of the troops out of there after we took the Hoover Dam.”

“Hm.” She sipped her coffee again. _Why do I drink this crap? Not like it tastes good._ “What can you tell me about Camp McCarran? I’d planned on stopping there on the way to the strip. See what help I can be of.”

“Was an airport before the war,” he replied. “Command liked it because it was already fortified and it let them keep an eye on the Strip. They’ve got an old monorail that still runs between them. Used mostly for supplies and deployment. But if you get leave, you’re allowed to go gamble. Was General Oliver’s post, but I heard he’s been up at the Dam a lot lately. Guessing Colonel Hsu is running it.”

Tesla had been lifting the cup to her lips when he said that, but stopped. She lowered the cup slowly as she stared blankly at the wall. “Oliver…. Hsu….”

Boone looked over at Tesla. Once again, she had that thousand-yard stare on her face.

_Why are those names familiar?_ She asked herself. _Did the rangers mention them?... No. Then why…._ “What do you think of General Oliver?” she asked, still staring at the wall, her coffee forgotten.

“Didn’t know him. He’s a signature on my discharge papers. Wasn’t real popular, though. Even heard my C.O complain about him once. “General Wait-And-See’ he called him.”

“What about Colonel Hsu? Did you know him at all?”

“Yeah. He introduced himself to me once. I shook his hand. Doubt he’d remember me now, though.”

_I wonder if he’d know me,_ Tesla thought. Despite finding no evidence, she still clung to the idea that maybe, somewhere, she had been with the NCR.

“When he looked at you, you could see he understood. After some of the things we’d seen, that meant something. What I heard, he’d be a General right now if Oliver didn’t know the president,” he said the last part spitefully.

“And The Dam?”

“The big one. The one the NCR is trying to hold onto, that the Legion is pushing for. Whole war depends on holding it.”

“Huh? What?” Tesla said, looking at Boone and sounding like she had just come out of a trance.

“What?” Boone asked.

“What?” she repeated.

“You asked about The Dam.”

“No. Yeah. The Hoover Dam. I know,” she said.

“So then why did you ask about it?”

Tesla looked at him for a few moments before shrugging. “I dunnuh.” She grabbed her cup and quickly downed the rest of her coffee before putting the cup back down with an audible thud. “Well, I’m probably high enough on caffeine. What say you, soldier boy?”

Boone downed the last swallow of his coffee and put the cup down. “Let’s go.”

“Agreed.”

The two of them made their way to the door, Boone stepping out first and holding the door open for her.

Tesla eyed him, giving him a smile. “A crack shot _and_ chivalrous? My my, but the NCR done taught you well.”

Boone grumbled under his breath at that, letting the door go once she was through. Now fully caffeinated, the two of them headed along the road to HELIOS One.

Once they were about at Old Lady Gibbsen’s scrapyard, Tesla looked over at Boone. He’d been silent the whole time, walking far enough away from her that she wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch him unless she leaned way over. “I have another question,” she stated.

He looked at her through the corner of his eye. “Okay,” he said.

“Oh, don’t sound so worried. It’s not like I’m about to ask you what color your underwear is. Though if I had to guess, it’s probably be something boring. Like gray.”

Boone grumbled at that.

“Since we’re headed to one of their places, how do you feel about the NCR?”

“Coming east was about securing the land, so people could live without fear,” he replied. “It’s not always that simple. But I think the cause is still right. And God help us if they lose.”

“Yeah. We’ll all be up to our tits in flouncy Legion hats,” Tesla replied vehemently. “Clearly you’re not a fan, and neither am I, so you must have some thoughts on Caesar’s Legion.”

“Yeah. Lots of thoughts. All about the best ways to kill them.”

“I suggest bullets and lots and lots of C4. Maybe radscorpions. I had this idea to train them. Get them when they’re eggs, that way when they hatch they think you’re the mommy scorpion and fight your enemies to the death with giant claws and toxin that can kill a grown man in half an hour.”

To her surprise, Boone seemed to grunt a laugh at that. “Yeah, well, you tell me how that’s going for you.”

Tesla stopped dead in her tracks, quickly grabbing her rifle off her back. “Speak of the devil and he shall come,” she growled, her eyes fixed on a dune further away. Boone looked as well, pulling out his own rifle when he saw at least five Legionaries headed toward them. Worse than that, two of them were Centurions.

“What the hell are they doing here?” he snarled.

“Courier!” One of the men shouted, raising a spear. “Caesar had demanded your death in repayment of the deaths you caused at Nipton.”

“Looks like Vulpes made it back home,” she growled. “Caesar can suck my goddamn clit!” she shouted back before lining up a shot and pulling the trigger. With that single bullet, the top part of the Legionaries’ skull was blown clean off and all hell broke loose.

Tesla and Boone ducked behind a large rock as bullets and spears went flying. They stayed crouched until there was a brief break in the firing. At the same time, the two of them swung around different sides of the rock. Tesla heard Boone fire, and a Legionary dropped to the ground dead. She fired again as well, taking her second kill. Before the Legionaries had finished reloading, they each took out another one. Now all that remained were the Centurions.

“You go right, I’ll go left,” Tesla said to Boone. He grunted in response.

Tesla looked out at the Centurion she was to take out. The man was running right at her, super sledge in hands. Aiming at his exposed left arm, she pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through the man’s elbow and he dropped his weapon, falling to one knee and gripping his arm. Slinging her rifle back across her back she bolted out from behind the rock and toward the man.

Past his pain the Centurion saw her coming and pulled out a pistol. But he wasn’t fast enough. Running at full speed Tesla planted her knee into the man’s face where his helmet didn’t cover and flew over him. The Centurion was sent sprawling onto his back on the ground, his pistol flung from his hand and onto the dirt.

Landing behind the Centurion and with uncanny speed, Tesla ducked down and twisted her body around so she was facing the man. The then used one hand and both of her feet to kick off the ground and propel herself back at the man, pulling her combat knife from its sheath with her free hand. Once upon him again she buried the knife to the hilt in the man’s neck, yanking the blade back and forth. The man let out a gurgle, blood spouting out around the bandanna that hid his face and neck, a dark puddle forming where his mouth was as the blood pooled past his lips. When she viciously yanked the knife from his throat his blood spurted out, spraying her cheek.

Standing up she looked down at the man darkly as he gurgled and clawed at his gaping throat. A wicked smile curved her lips. There was something… satisfying, about watching this man… no, this piece of human trash try to cling to life. How many people had he killed? How many had he forced into slavery, destroying the lives they could have had?

“How the hell did you do that?”

Tesla snapped back to herself when she heard Boone’s voice and looked up at him. She passed a brief glance back down at the man, who was now struggling less and less, then stepped over him and walked toward Boone.

“Honestly?” she asked. “I have no conceivable idea how I do anything I do. I just knew how to do it.” Pulling a rag out of one of her pockets she wiped the blood from her face and then from her knife before sheathing it again. “Only thing I remember about my profession was I was a Courier when I was shot. But all this stuff I can do is why I keep seeking out the NCR, hoping for answers.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Seems unlikely a courier would be able to do all that.”

Tesla motioned to the road. “Shall we?” she said, continuing on. “So,” she asked, “now that you’ve seen me in action, do I get to keep the beret? Because I must say, I’m already rather fond of it.”

“Couldn’t see the harm,” he replied in his usual drab tone. “You’re not a bad shot.”

Tesla scoffed at that. “Not a bad shot?” she threw her hands up in mock surrender. “Oh fine then. Be that way.”

The two of them reached HELIOS One about an hour after leaving Novac. Once there Tesla greeted the officer standing outside. The woman greeted her in return, saying she’d hoped she’d see Tesla again. She informed her that they’d yet to make any breakthroughs with activating the station.

“No problem,” Tesla replied. She pointed her thumb at Boone. “Hope you don’t mind I brought some support. Don’t know what might be further in. Figured better safe than sorry.”

The woman, who had seemed to have completely overlooked Boone, now looked at him. She raised an approving eyebrow. “First Recon?”

“Ex NCR,” Boone replied.

“Even so, you’re more than welcome here,” she replied. She looked back at Tesla and the beret she wore. “Didn’t know you were First Recon, too.”

“I’m not,” Tesla replied honestly. “Some guy gave it to me. Said my hair was ugly and I should cover it up.”

The woman chuckled at that. She stopped, seeming to remember something. “Before you go in, there’s a Ranger here to see you,” she said. “He should be in the main lobby. He came around looking for you when he heard you were here. Decided to stay and see if you’d come back.”

“A Ranger?” Tesla asked. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“Said he had something to give you was all,” she said. “If he’s not in the lobby, just ask around for him. He’s here somewhere.”

“Thanks,” Tesla replied, inclining her head to the woman before she and Boone made their way into the building. She was barely three feet inside when a man walked up to her.

“Are you Tesla?” he asked.

“Last I checked I be she.”

“Ranger Anderson,” the man said, extending his hand to her. She shook his hand. He then handed her something. “Here,” he said. “It’s a two-way NCR radio,” he said when she took it. “For all the help you’ve given us. You need support or supplies, just use it and we’ll be there. You never have to be alone in the Mojave.”

“Well, thank you very much, Ranger Anderson,” she replied. “I appreciate it.”

“Of course ma’am,” he said, tipping his hat to her. With that he stepped past her to the door, inclining his head in Boone’s direction when he walked past him.

“Huh. Never known the NCR to give one of their radios to a civilian before,” Boone said when the man was gone.

Tesla motioned for him to follow her further into the facility. “Well that’s what happens when you make a helpful nuisance of yourself,” she said, clipping the radio to her belt. “People appreciate it, and that suits me just fine.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter** **5**

 

The two of them emerged from the station hours later. The power had been activated and routed to McCarran and The Strip, and the hostile robots and turrets had been dealt with thanks to Tesla and Boone. Along with many mines being disarmed and removed by Tesla. Unless they had missed something, twice, the entire station should have been rendered safe.

On the way out Tesla paused to tell the C.O that the station was up and running, and that if she valued it staying that way that she needed to fire that idiot calling himself Mr. Fantastic. The man was a fraud, after all, and whoever hired him needed to not be in charge of hiring people for such important jobs. At most the guy should have a job bussing tables at one of the casinos in New Vegas.

“Well that was eventful,” Tesla said as she and Boone headed back toward Novac. “You’re a hell of a shot with that thing even in close quarters,” she commented.

“Thanks,” Boone mumbled.

Tesla yawned and stretched. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a…” she stopped short when she heard a yell, spinning around to see more Legionaries running at them. “…’nother group of Legion assassins. Yeah. That’s what I was going to say,” she grumbled as she and Boone pulled their rifles off their backs and opened fire.

The gunfight went much like the last one, except this time a bullet grazed Tesla’s arm and opened up a nice cut. She reeled a bit when it happened and hissed in pain, pulling her rifle back up and quickly dispatching the one that got the lucky shot.

Once all the Legionaries were dead she put her rifle on her back. “I’m starting to think the first one was for me, and the second might’ve been for you.”

“Maybe,” Boone muttered.

“Ah! Son of a bitch,” Tesla hissed when she moved her arm, reminding her of the wound she received. She lifted her arm and grabbed it with her other hand so she could better see the wound. “Lucky bastard grazed me.”

Without really thinking about it, Boone put his rifle away and stepped to where he could see her arm. “Let me see,” he said, reaching toward her arm.

Putting up no resistance, she put her hand down and offered her arm to Boone. “It’s not that bad,” she said, flinching a little bit when he lightly pulled at the wound to see how deep it was. “Doesn’t need stitches. No point in wasting a stimpack. I’ll take care of it once we get back to the motel.”

Still holding her arm with one hand, Boone fished a roll of gauze out of one of his pockets. “Here,” he said as he began wrapping it carefully around her wound. “This’ll at least keep it from bleeding everywhere.”

“Thanks, Boone,” she said while he wrapped it. Despite his large, tough hands, he was gentle with the way he wrapped her arm not too loose and not too tight. “Do all NCR guys have training in field dressing minor wounds?” she asked.

“Yeah. Part of basic,” he replied stoically. “Can’t always find a medic out in the field. Gotta know how to wrap up cuts and bullet wounds. Use stimpacks. Stop bleeding. Brace broken bones if you have to.” He tied the gauze once her arm was wrapped well enough. “There,” he said simply, pocketing the rest of the gauze. “Should be fine until we get back.”

“Should be,” she said, moving her arm to make sure the binding felt fine. “Yeah. Definitely.”

The two of them continued on their way, the rest of the walk back to Novac uneventful. Not even so much as a molerat crossed their paths.

Once back at the motel, Tesla looked at Boone and motioned toward the stairs. “I’m gonna head back up,” she said. “Maybe get some sleep now that I’ve been up for 24 hours and fought two groups of Legion assassins and a bunch of crazy robots. And take care of this,” she said, motioning to her arm.

“Mm-hm.”

“We can leave in the morning,” Tesla said. “Manny told me he overheard the guy I’m after say he was headed to Boulder City, so that’s where I’m headed next. You too if you still want to come along.”

“Well, definitely don’t feel like staying here.”

Tesla paused for a bit before walking up the stairs to her room. She wasn’t sure what she expected. For him to say something. For her own brain to come up with something else to say. She wasn’t sure.

“Well, you have the key,” Tesla said. “If you need me for anything, just head on up. If I’m sleeping just, uh… wake me up or make yourself comfortable.” She shrugged nonchalantly before she turned and headed up the stairs to her room.

Once inside she laid her weapons out on the bed, took her gloves off, and headed back to the bathroom. She’d stocked up the first aid kit back there for the duration of her stay, and though the wound on her arm wasn’t bad, it did still need some tending.

Tesla washed her hands in the sink, cleaning the blood and grime from them that had made it past her gloves. She dried her hands on a nearby towel and looked down at the gauze on her arm. Though the wound wasn’t severe, it _had_ bled through a bit, staining the white gauze a bright crimson in places.

She lightly ran her fingers over the gauze. As rough and surly as Boone had come across, he’d shown her a softer side when he’d bandaged her arm. Having decent medical knowledge herself, wrapping the arm was something she was more than capable of doing herself, but he’d done it for her. She hadn’t even asked him to. _There’s a good heart under that tough shell,_ she thought as she started unwrapping the wound so she could treat it more thoroughly.

When the wound was properly cleaned and bound, with a nice layer of anesthetic gel to numb the stinging pain, she decided to take a quick bath. She had no idea, after all, when she’d get an actual functioning bathtub next.

She went into the main room and grabbed a pair of pants and a clean undershirt before removing her armor and putting it on the footlocker at the end of the bed. She finished undressing in the bathroom, but kept her clean clothes close in case someone, preferably Boone, knocked on the door.

She bathed quietly, making sure to keep her bandaged arm dry. The only ambient noise came from the radio in the main room. Letting out a content sigh, she sunk further down into the warm water, leaving her injured arm elevated on the lip of the tub. She kept hoping she’d hear the front door open. That Boone would take her up on her offer of company. She could understand his wanting to be alone, though.

Getting out of the tub after a nice soak, Tesla dried off and dressed. Before leaving the bathroom she went back to the mirror and gingerly pulled one of the gauze pads away from her head to look at the healing wound. It looked better every day, but it was still weeping a bit, which was to be expected. Other than that, it looked just fine. She checked the other wound to much the same result, then changed the bandages for both and grabbed the beret off the back of the toilet before exiting the bathroom.

She was halfway across the room when the door unlocked and opened to reveal Boone standing there with a large duffle bag.

Tesla grinned when she saw him. “Well come on in,” she said. “Don’t just stand there.”

Boone hesitated as he stared from the doorway at her. She looked like she’d just stepped out of the bathtub, her champagne hair still damp. He clenched his jaw when she sauntered closer, her hips swaying from side to side. This was the first time he’d seen her without her armor on. Even the few times he’d seen her in passing late at night or early in the morning she’d always had her armor on. Now, with just a normal pair of pants and a clingy undershirt, which made it painfully clear she had no bra on, her curves were much more noticeable. And _damn_ did she have some curves. And the way she moved; determined and lethal, like a predator.

Maybe he’d just been too long without a woman around him. Maybe grief had made him completely insane, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Especially after seeing the way she handled herself today.

Against his will, he felt himself harden as he looked at her. _What am I doing here?_ Boone growled to himself. _Should’ve just stayed downstairs._

Tesla put a hand on her hip and stared at Boone. “Did you plan on sleeping in the doorway?” she asked with a grin. “Because there’s a perfectly good couch just right there,” she said, motioning to the couch. “Nice and comfortable. And not in my doorway, leaving the door open and letting all the bugs in.”

Snapping out of his momentary trance, Boone stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, setting his duffle bag down by the couch.

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think you’d come up here,” Tesla said, putting the beret back on and walking to the fridge. She opened it and looked through the contents. “Whisky? Scotch? Vodka?”

“Got any beer?”

“Beer it is,” she said, grabbing two bottles. She put them against the edge of the counter and skillfully popped the tops off, pocketing the caps. She walked back to Boone, who had seated himself on the couch and handed one to him. He accepted it from her and leaned back on the couch while she sat on the edge of the bed.

“How’s your arm?” Boone asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Fine,” Tesla replied. “Doesn’t hurt much and it wasn’t deep. Got it cleaned up so it won’t fester.” She tipped her beer up and took a long draught from it.

“You said before you had a mission,” Boone asked. “What is it?”

“To track down the son of a bitch that tried to kill me,” Tesla replied, “and kill him back. Except _his_ will be permanent.”

“Who is this guy?” he asked.

“Some asshole named Benny, from what I’ve gathered,” Tesla replied. “He was with some Khans when he tried to kill me in Goodsprings.” She took another drink. “Apparently a securitron calling itself Victor saw the whole thing and dug me up. Couple other people in Goodsprings saw him too. One lady told me the guy was talking about going to The Strip by avoiding I-15 and pointed me to Novac through Nipton. Nipton didn’t have anything but a bunch of death, so I came here. Asked around. Manny said he overheard the guys talking about going to Boulder City, so I’m headed there next.”

“If he’s going to The Strip, why not just head straight there?” Boone asked. “Save the trouble.”

“Because I want to find out all I can about this guy. Only way to do that is to stop everywhere he stopped and talk to everybody. It’s easier to track and take down your prey if you know everything there is to know about them,” Tesla said, her voice dark and calculating. “Can’t exactly say for sure how I’m going to kill him when I find him, but I’m sure I’ll make it interesting and slow.”

“So you were really shot in the head?”

“And buried alive,” Tesla added with a grin, tipping her beer toward him before taking a drink. “Can’t say I remember the execution itself, though. I remember Benny standing in front of me. Still remember exactly what he looked like and what he said. Then a gunshot and everything after that is just black until I woke up in the local doctor’s house a few days later.” She moved until she was sitting on the bed with her back against the wall. “Can’t say how I managed to live. All I can really tell you is I don’t remember anything about myself before that. I still remember shit like math and apparently how to shoot a rifle, and stuff about the NCR and Legion and all that, but when I try and think about myself before that night….” She put her fingers against her head then moved her hands outward, her fingers splayed. “Poof. Nothing.”

Boone sat quietly and contemplated that. To not remember anything about your past. To just wake up one day and have it all be gone, leaving you with a clean slate.

It sounded like paradise to him. He took another drink of his beer.

The two were silent once more. Tesla downed the rest of her beer, letting out a large, frankly impressive belch moments after. Boone raised a brow at that and the way she let out a short laugh afterword. He watched as she stood and fetched two more beers, popping the caps off before returning. She handed him one right as he finished his and sat back down on the bed.

“So what can you tell me about New Vegas?” Tesla asked. “You know. Since I don’t remember ever being there.”

“It’s NCR land, for the most part,” he replied, his voice calm. “We tamed it, now we’re settling it. Lot of people complain about it, but they forget what it was like before we showed up. It’s a lot of territory to secure. Too much, even for a big army like the NCR’s.”

“Ah. I meant like the casinos and stuff, but that works too,” she said teasingly. She held her bottle up and watched as the light filtered through the glass and liquid for a moment before taking another drink. “Mind if I ask about your wife a bit?” she asked.

“Carla’s dead. That’s all you need to know,” Boone replied in that ‘drop the subject’ tone of voice he seemed to get whenever she mentioned his wife.

Still, not always one to listen to her common reasoning, she glanced over at the sniper who now avoided her gaze. He’d told her she’d been sold, and that he knew she was dead. But how could he possibly know? “Boone, what aren’t you telling me about what happened to Carla?”

Boone bristled at the question, his anger flaring. He shot a venomous glare at her. “You got no right asking me that. Drop it,” he snapped, his tone flaring.

Tesla bit the inside of her cheek at his tone. Clearly she’d pushed too far, and the last thing she wanted to do was push him so far that he flew away. If she was going to be traveling with him, she wanted to remain on his good side. “You’re right. We barely know each other. I shouldn’t be prying into your personal affairs,” she agreed, looking away from him. “I was out of line.”

Her tone cut him like a knife and his anger went from ten to zero in a second flat. He let out a long sigh, wishing he hadn’t snapped at her like that, and leaned his head back against the wall. “It’s just something I’m not ready to discuss. With you or anybody. The Legion’s the only thing on my mind right now,” he said, his tone softer. Even a little apologetic.

“Fair enough,” Tesla replied. Feeling suddenly tired, she quickly downed the rest of her beer and stood. She set the empty bottle on the table next to the dresser the TV was on then walked over and shut off the light. She stopped by the dresser and pulled out a spare blanket then went back to the bed and collected one of the pillows. Walking across the mattress on her knees she put the blanket and pillow on the couch on the opposite side of Boone.

“Feel free to crash here,” she said, scooting back over to the far side of the mattress and hung her legs off the side. “And help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge. It’s mostly booze. A little bit of food,” she said as she unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. “Take all you want. I won’t be taking more than maybe a bottle of vodka with us tomorrow for an emergency antiseptic.”

Boone turned his head in her direction slightly when he saw her stand from the corner of his eye. When she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her pants he quickly looked away. Curiosity, however, got the better of him and he looked back at her as she slid her pants down over her voluptuous hips. He clenched his jaw tight when he hardened instantly at the way her hips shimmied from side to side, her pants lowering to show her dark gray boy shorts.

Finally tearing his eyes away, Boone ran a hand over his nose and mouth. He glanced back at her again, but quickly looked away, focusing on a stain on the wall instead. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, bouncing his knee up and down. He almost stood up and left the room right then and there.

Tesla pulled back the covers and crawled under them. “Just please don’t turn the radio off,” she said, laying down on her back and closing her eyes. “I don’t like the quiet.”

“Yeah. Sure,” he replied, still staring at the stain on the wall.

The minutes ticked on slowly with only the sound of the radio droning on in the background. After a time, Boone chanced a look back at Tesla. She was already asleep with her back to him, her pillow between her head and her arm. His eyes looked up and down her form, silhouetted by the thin blanket. He sighed despairingly, the sight bringing back memories of Carla sleeping soundly in their bed when he’d quietly get up for his shift in the sniper’s nest.

As he stared at the woman’s sleeping form, he was suddenly overcome with a powerful urge to slowly and quietly slide into the bed behind her. He imagined pulling the blanket down just enough so he could run his fingertip over the soft skin of her arm, then leaning in to plant a soft kiss on her shoulder and burying his face in her hair. Imagined pulling her close and wrapping an arm around her so he could feel her warm body pressed snugly against his.

She turned in her sleep just then until she was facing him on her other side. Her mouth was slightly open and she was probably drooling on her pillow.

Boone lifted his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes, trying to banish the images in his mind. _She isn’t Carla,_ he said to himself. _It will never be Carla again._

Finishing the beer he had nearly forgotten about Boone set the now empty bottle on the floor by the couch. Readjusting the blanket to use it as a pillow as well he took his sunglasses off and laid back on the couch, putting his arm over his eyes.

Tesla was a stranger. He barely knew her, and he still thought going with her would end badly for the both of them.

Carla was dead, along with his unborn child.

Tesla wasn’t Carla, and she could never be more to him than just a person he traveled with.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter** **6**

 

While Tesla seemed to have slept through the night like a baby, Boone’s sleep had been fitful and illusive. Carla’s fate had played endlessly through his mind and kept him from slumber.

When he awoke in the morning to light filtering through the cracks of the boards that covered the window, he felt sick to his stomach. He’d had a few more drinks through the night. That, coupled with not eating anything and having barely slept, didn’t make him feel too amazing.

Even so, he knew today was the day that he’d finally be leaving this shithole behind him. That thought alone was enough to help settle his stomach and get him sitting upright on the couch.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. Tesla was nowhere to be seen. He wondered where she was, but was also glad for the solitude.

Getting up slowly he produced a razor from his duffle bag and went to the bathroom to shave. Part way through he heard the front door open and close.

“Boone? You still here?” he heard Tesla call.

“Yeah,” he called back.

“Ah. Good.” Tesla stepped further into the apartment. “I woke up at like 6 in the morning or something. I tend to be an early riser.” She set a duffle bag, smaller than Boone’s, on the couch. “Bought more rounds from Cliff. Couple extra stimpacks from the doc. And saw the McBrides out with their Brahmin. Stopped to say hi and...” she shuffled around in her bag and pulled out two somethings wrapped in brown paper, “… they gave me two Brahmin steaks for breakfast,” she said with a grin. She headed toward the stove and readied it for the steaks. “Lovely couple, the two of them. Just a pair of nice people.”

“Why did they give you two steaks?” Boone asked, stepping out of the bathroom and patting his face dry.

“I mentioned I was leaving today and abducting you in the process,” she replied cheerily. Her smile faded when she saw Boone’s nostrils flare. He then threw the hand towel back into the bathroom and walked stiffly over to his duffle back. “Oh, bad choice of words. Sorry, Boone,” she said, mentally cursing at herself.

She turned to the stove and put one of the steaks in the pan. “I told them I was headed to Boulder City, and convinced you to come with. The two seemed… confused at first, until I told them that Carla had been missing for some time. Being out there on their farm, they don’t come to the hotel often and usually keep to themselves. They get most of their supplies from traders passing by their farm, so they had no idea that she was gone. After that, they seemed to understand why you agreed to leave.”

“Why did you tell them I was leaving in the first place?” he asked, his tone brisk.

“Granted you hate this place, Boone, but I think it’s only fair that the town be warned that they’re losing their nighttime sniper so they know to keep their firearms close at night and sleep lightly.”

“I guess,” Boone muttered in response, standing once he put his razor back in his duffle bag.

Tesla grabbed two plates, two forks and two knives as the first steak simmered in the pan. “How do you like your steak?” she asked.

Boone walked toward the stove. “I’ll just cook….” He paused in his tracks when Tesla picked up a knife and pointed it at him, raising one of her eyebrows. When she motioned toward the table with the knife he looked between her and the table a couple times.

“Go sit,” she said, “and tell me how you like your steak.”

Boone rolled his eyes a bit, but decided not to push the issue. “Rare,” he said as he walked over to the table and sat down.

“Good.” She used one of the forks to flip the steak over. “I’ll get this one. You can cook the next.”

The two remained silent as she cooked the first steak. When it was done she put it on a plate along with the utensils and gave it to Boone, the sniper thanking her quietly for it. When her own steak was done, also cooked rare, she turned the stove off and the two ate in silence.

When they were done they each grabbed their duffle bags and left the room. Boone turned to walk down the stairs, not paying much attention to anything around him. Halfway down the stairs he was startled when he saw something jump in front of him. His eyes caught the sight of Tesla on the railing to the stairs a moment before she jumped down and landed solidly on the ground.

 _What the hell?_ He looked from her to the balcony above. _Did she just jump down from there?_ Putting it out of his mind he hefted his duffle bag on his back and descended the stairs.

“Do you still have the key to my room?” Tesla asked. “I need to give it back to Cliff before we leave.”

Boone fished around in his pocket then held out his hand to her, handing her two keys.

Tesla raised her brow at the second key. “What’s the second key for?” she asked. Though she already had an idea what his answer would be.

“My room,” he replied. “Won’t be needing it anymore.”

Tesla started to ask if he was sure, but decided against it. Of course he was sure. The night she’d extended an invitation for him to come with her, he’d practically been ready to leave right then and there.

“Alright,” she replied. “I’ll meet you out by the road,” she said. “Shouldn’t take too long.” With that she walked toward the dinosaur, her duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

“Hey, Cliff,” she said when she entered the souvenir shop.

“Morning, Tesla. What can I do for you?”

“I’m returning the key for my room,” she said. “Forgot to do it earlier when I was in here.”

“Nonsense. Keep it,” Cliff replied with a kind smile. “You’ve done so much for Novac since you’ve been here, least I can do is keep your room open for you so you have someplace to stay whenever you come back through.”

Tesla smiled. “Alright. Thanks, Cliff.” She took the key to her room out of her hand, then held the other one out to Cliff. “Also, this one’s to Boone’s room,” she said.

“Boone’s room?” Cliff replied, his voice confused. He took the key from her and looked down at it. “Why are you giving me the key to his room?”

“Boone isn’t staying,” Tesla said, her smile gone and replace with a look of sympathy. Sympathy for the people of Novac who would likely have many sleepless nights knowing their late-night sniper was no longer looking out for them, and sympathy for Boone. For why he wanted to leave in the first place. “He decided he wanted to come with me today.”

“Boone’s leaving?” Cliff said, his voice a mixture of surprise and confusion. “With you?”

“I know. Shocking, right?” she said with a ghost of a smile. “I’m still a bit surprised myself, and I don’t know him like you do.”

“Surprised doesn’t really begin to cover it,” Cliff said, a look of disbelief on his face. “Granted he ain’t exactly friendly and talkative, but why does he want to leave?”

“Well, it can be difficult to get a straight answer out of him, but if I had to guess I’d say too many bad memories,” she replied. “I mean this _was_ the place where his wife was stolen from him. It’s understandable that one would want to leave such a place with such memories.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I can see that,” Cliff conceded. He pocketed the key. “Well when you put it like that, I can’t fault him for leaving, but I hate to see him go. Who’s gonna keep the raiders out at night?”

“Well, I say arm yourselves,” Tesla said. “Keep your pistols close.”

“Yeah. Well, thank you again,” he said. “I’ll let people know.”

Tesla inclined her head, then looked to the stairs that led up to the sniper’s nest. “Is Manny up there?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good,” she said, heading up the stairs to the door.

When Manny heard the door open he turned and grinned when he saw Tesla. “Hey, man,” he greeted cheerily. “Word around town is you’re headed out today.”

“Sure am,” Tesla replied. “And I’m not the only one.”

“Oh, really?” he replied.

“I’m taking Boone with me.”

Manny said nothing at that, his mouth slightly agape. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as though trying to figure out what to say. “You’re taking Boone?” he finally asked.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Huh.” Manny was silent for a few more seconds. “How did you swing that?”

“I can’t go into detail, but I helped him with something important to him,” Tesla replied. “Once it was done and over with I asked if he wanted to come with me when I left. He seemed… pretty eager to leave.”

Manny sighed. “Yeah. I can see that,” he said. “Boone hasn’t been the same since Carla disappeared. Like he resented Novac and everyone in it.” Manny’s look suddenly brightened, though. “Still, who knows? Maybe it’ll do him some good to travel around with a pretty girl,” he said.

Tesla laughed at that. “Don’t let _him_ hear you say that. If he scowls anymore I’m afraid his face will collapse in on itself and create a black hole.”

Manny barked a laugh at the thought of that. “That would be a sight,” he said. “Well, you take care of him, Tesla. He and I may not talk anymore, but I’d hate to see something happen to him. Well, something else.”

“Don’t worry, Manny,” Tesla replied. “I’ll keep him safe.” She gave him a friendly hug before she left Dinky and headed out of the motel courtyard. Just outside the fence she saw Boone leaning against the edge of the building. When he saw her he pushed away from the crumbling bricks.

“Gave Cliff your key,” Tesla said as she approached him. “He insisted I keep mine, though, in case I ever come back.”

Boone snorted at that. “Haven’t even left yet and he already wants you back.”

“Well that’s what happens when you make friends with people,” Tesla replied. “They tend to enjoy it when you’re around and miss you when you’re gone.”

Boone said nothing to that.

Tesla motioned with her head to the road and the two of them headed away from the motel.

They didn’t make it far before they heard, “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!”

Tesla and Boone turned. Boone furrowed his brow when he saw a Securitron robot standing on the other side of the Novac sign, a picture of a cowboy on its screen.

“Victor?”

Boon looked down confusedly at Tesla.

“What are you doing in Novac?”

“Don’t rightly know. I just got the notion to make my way to New Vegas. Reckon I’ll find out when I get there.”

 _Wait, Victor?_ Boone remained silent while Tesla and the robot chatted for a little while longer before they said their goodbyes, he and Tesla headed along their way.

“That the robot that dug you up?” Boone asked.

“Yeah,” Tesla replied. “Weird kinda robot,” she said. “Why someone would program a robot like that to act like a cowboy, I have no idea. People are just weird I guess.”

The two were silent as they walked, Novac slowly growing smaller and smaller behind them. “Do you know how far Boulder City is from here?” Tesla asked when she realized she wasn't exactly sure where the city was.

“Not too long,” Boone said. “If we follow route 95 and keep a brisk pace, we should get there before nightfall.”

 

\- - - - -

 

The pair arrived at Boulder City around 5:30 that night. After talking to an NCR solier about a large memorial standing there, Tesla and Boone entered the only intact, non-boarded up building there: The local saloon. The place was completely devoid of life, save for the bartender. The man was reading a magazine, but perked up when he saw them. He greeted them to the saloon, and the two of them sat down. “Customers! Not many people come into Boulder City these days. Name’s Ike, and this is the Big Horn. How can I help you two?”

Boone sat down without a word, setting his duffle bag on the floor next to him.

“Well we’ve been walking for a bit,” Tesla replied, taking her own stool. “Got anything edible?”

“Sure do, ma’am.” He reached under the counter and came back with two menus, setting one before each of them. “We have a working fridge in the back, so you don’t have to worry about any spoiled meat, and everything’s made to order.”

“Dandy,” she replied, looking at the menu.

“You two need anything to drink?” he asked.

Telsa shrugged and looked over at Boone. “Beer?”

He gave a slight nod. “Beer.”

“Two beers,” Tesla said to Ike with a grin.

“Coming right up," Ike replied cheerfully. He dipped into the back for a few moments before coming back with two bottles. He popped the caps and handed one to each of them. "Just gimme a holler when you've decided what you want."

It didn't take long for Tesla to settle on a plate of iguana bits while Boone ordered a rare steak. Ike nodded in acknowledgment and went to fix their orders. While he worked on that Tesla looked at the faded label of the beer. She could make out a few colors and a couple letters, but not much else.

Boone glanced over at Tesla, noticing that, much like back at the hotel lobby, she was starting to fidget. She looked here and there around the bar and occasionally sipped her beer as she bounced her leg with increasing speed.

"Hey, Ike?" Tesla called out after a few minutes.

"Need something else?" he replied.

“What can you tell me about Boulder City?” she asked.

“Most of the town is rubble – destroyed during the battle of Hoover Dam – and the only other thing around here is the concrete mixing yard,” he replied, his voice raised a bit so she could hear him from the other room.

“What’s the concrete used for?” she asked. “Doesn’t look like there’s much in the way of construction going on around here.”

“The NCR has been constructing bunkers up and down the river. From what I’ve heard, it’s a little late for that.”

Tesla glanced over at Boone when he let out an angry snort. The look on his face told her he wasn’t thrilled with the man’s comment.

“Travelers over at the 188 – just up the road – said that the Legion has overrun a couple of towns to the south.”

“Really now?” Tesla said slowly as she pondered on that. “So where does the concrete come from? Aside from the obvious, ‘the mixing yard’.”

The man chuckled a bit at that. “Most of the limestone comes from Quarry Junction out west, but I hear some Deathclaws overran the quarry. With no work to be had all the workers around here have wandered off. I’m the only one left in town.”

“How do you keep this place running?” she asked incredulously.

“Well I don’t get many travelers through here, but I see enough to at least keep the place up and running,” he said. “Besides, if I left this place really _would_ become a ghost town. I just can’t bring myself to do it.”

“Ah,” she replied. “Well since you don’t get much traffic through here, you must remember the ones that pass through pretty well,” she said.

“You sound like you’re looking for someone in particular,” Ike said as he stepped out from the back room and set a plate of fried iguana bits in front of her.

“I am,” she replied. She paused to take a bite of her food. “Guy in a checkered suit. Real slick-talker. He was traveling with some Great Khans.”

The man shook his head. “Sorry, can’t say I saw him,” he replied.

Tesla let out a small sigh and looked down at her food. It wasn’t exactly the reply she’d been hoping for.

“However….”

She looked back up at Ike.

“I heard there were some Great Khans holed up in the Boulder City ruins. NCR’s trying to flush them out or kill them, I think. Heard a bunch of gunfire earlier in the day, but then it got real quiet.”

Tesla perked up at this new bit of information. “Where are the ruins?” she asked.

“If you walk out the door, it’s just down the road from here,” he said, pointing in the general direction. “Checked down there earlier. NCR had a barricade up.” He looked over at Boone. “Your friend here one of their guys?”

“Not anymore,” Boone replied.

“Ah. Well even ex-NCR, the guy watching the gate might be willing to give you more information,” Ike offered.

“Thanks, Ike,” she said.

Ike nodded then headed into the back room.

“You’re gonna try and fix the problem, aren’t you?” Boone grumbled, half looking over at her.

“’Course I am,” she replied with a wink, taking a swig of her beer.

Ike walked back out of the back room soon after the two of them finished their meal. They each paid for their own, picked up their duffle bags and headed on their way.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter** **7**

 

“We got a situation with some Great Khans right now. The brass at McCarran has ordered me to lock down the ruins until it’s been resolved,” Lieutenant Monroe said.

“What’s going on with the Khans?” Tesla asked.

“One of my patrols was on its way back from Novac when it came under fire from the Great Khans,” he said. “They radioed for reinforcements, but instead of waiting for us, they chased the Khans into the ruins, where they were caught in a crossfire.”

“Hm. Smart,” Tesla muttered sarcastically. “Any casualties?”

“No deaths,” he replied, “but not all of the squad got out. The Khans have Private Ackerman and Private Gilbert as hostages.”

“Look,” Tesla said, her voice all business. “Earlier in the month I was caught up with an… issue, with the Khans. See I was a courier for the Mojave Express. They captured me, stole my package, and left me for dead. I’ve been asking around and the ones that committed this crime against me were overheard saying they were going to Boulder City. So I have reason to believe that these Khans may still be in possession of my stolen package – a Platinum Chip.”

“Once the Great Khans have been killed or captured, you’re welcome to retrieve any property they’ve taken from you,” the Lieutenant replied, obviously unmoved by her story.

“And what do you plan to do about the hostages?” she asked.

“ ‘Acceptable casualties’, I’ve been told.”

Boone snorted at that. “Typical NCR,” he grumbled.

The man glared over at Boone, looking him up and down and taking note of the berets that both of them wore. “You have a problem, solder?” the man growled. “First Recon or not, I don’t take kindly to your tone.”

“Not a soldier anymore,” Boone growled back. “I’ll take what tone I like.”

The Lieutenant sighed at that. “Look, I don’t like it either, but the brass has their reasons.”

“Yeah. They always do,” Boone grumbled, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Tesla gnawed at the inside of her cheek as she considered this. “Tell you what,” Tesla said, “I’m just a civilian, but I’ve been helping the NCR out whenever I find ‘em.” She took the radio off her belt and showed it to the guy. “A Ranger even gave me this when the two of us,” she pointed between herself and Boone with one thumb, “went to HELIOS One to get the station back up and running.”

Recognition lit the man’s eyes. “Wait, that was you?” he asked. “I heard about that. Said two people walked into the station and managed to get through the defenses the Brotherhood activated before they were run out and got the electricity flowing again.”

Tesla clipped the radio back on her belt. “Yeah. That was us. And I’ll bet I can help you with _your_ problem, too.”

The man said nothing as he seemed to considered this. “Go on,” he finally said.

“Aside from being a hell of a shot, I also have a hell of a silver tongue. I may be able to negotiate a deal with the Khans.”

“Normally I’d turn you down since I don’t know who you are,” he said. “Even with your story about HELIOS and your radio, you could just be some drifter that found it and took credit for the station.”

Tesla shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“But considering that the hostages are as good as dead when we attack….” The man trailed off.

“Worse come to worse we can help with the assault,” Tesla added. “I’m a crack shot with a rifle, and Boone here, like you pointed out, was First Recon. So you wait until it gets dark, we climb up onto the ruins, you give us a signal and we open fire. Hold your own men back until a couple of the Khans are dead. It’ll confuse them. Make them disorganized, and a confused, disorganized enemy is an easy target. You send in your guys while the Khans panic and we wipe them all out. If we move fast enough we might be able to kill them all or scatter them enough that your hostages will remain unharmed.”

The Lieutenant looked at her in surprise. As did Boone. “Actually… yeah. That might just work,” the man said. “All right. I’m going to give you a chance to talk to the Great Khans. Their leader is a man named Jessup. But if we hear shooting, we’ll be coming in. It’ll probably be too late for you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied with a dark grin. “I can more than handle myself in a ranged fight or a close one.”

“Well, good luck then,” he replied in an ‘I’m already planning on dragging your corpse out of there’ kind of tone.

“Don’t need luck if you have skill,” she replied as she and Boone set their duffle bags down by the table the man was at and walked past him into the ruins.

The two of them didn’t have to walk far before they spotted NCR soldiers crouched behind any cover they could while they awaited orders.

Tesla stopped when Boone grabbed her shoulder with one large hand. She looked back at him.

“I’m gonna climb up there,” here said, motioning to a brick building. “Cover you from a distance.”

Tesla looked up at the building. “Good thinking,” she replied, still looking at it. “Get a bird’s eye view. See any potential dangers I can’t from the ground.”

“Exactly.”

Tesla looked over at him and nodded, noticing, in the back of her mind, that he hadn’t taken his hand off her shoulder. “Go for it,” she said.

Boone nodded curtly and lowered his hand, turning from her and heading to the building.

Tesla continued on alone to the Khans. Once she saw some of them crouched behind cars and anything else, she raised her hands into the air and stopped. “Don’t shoot,” she called out. “I’m here on behalf of the NCR to negotiate.”

A couple of the Khans risked looking up at her, then at each other, nodding. One of the Khans waved her over with her pistol. Putting her hands down, Tesla complied and walked toward the crouched woman.

“I’m here to talk to Jessup,” she said.

The woman eyed her wearily, keeping her pistol aimed at Tesla.

“No funny business,” she said. “Feel free to riddle me full of holes if I pull a gun or knife or anything else.”

The woman stared at her for a few more minutes. “Go inside the door back there,” she said. “That’s where Jessup is.”

Tesla thought about Boone sitting hidden somewhere behind her. But she couldn’t show weakness, and she couldn’t give away his position.

Boone furrowed his brow when Tesla walked past a Khan and toward a door. _What the hell is she doing?_ he growled, staring at her through the scope. He tensed up when she put her hand on the doorknob. _Goddamn it,_ he growled when she walked through the door and out of his sight.

Tesla walked through the door and shut it, freezing in her step. There was a man behind the counter. A man she recognized.

This was one of the bastards that had helped Benny tie her up and dig her shallow grave.

At the same time the man looked up at her and actually jumped, his eyes going wide. “What the hell!” he yelled. “You’re that courier Benny wasted back in Goodsprings. You’re supposed to be dead!”

The other Khans all looked at her with an equal look of fear and confusion.

“I _am_ dead,” Tesla said, her face stony and serious as the grave.

“But… but you’re standing right here!”

“I’m a ghost, here to haunt you.” Tesla grinned and lifted her hands, wiggling her fingers. “Oooooo…. Spooky ghoooooost….”

“Alright! Quit fucking around,” Jessup said. His eyes were still wide, his breathing ragged and sweat beading on his face. “You survived and you tracked us down. What now?”

“Where’s the Platinum Chip?” she asked, her tone back to being deadly serious.

“Look, I don’t have it! Benny stole it, right before he stabbed us in the back. He’s probably back at the Strip by now, laughing at me,” he said, his tone fiery.

 _Hm. So shot me in the head, then turned on the Khans. This Benny is a real fucking piece of work._ “I want more answers,” Tesla growled.

“Yeah. Yeah, alright,” Jessup said.

“Tell me everything you can about Benny.”

“He’s one of the Chairmen, big shots who run The Tops casino in New Vegas.”

“Why were you there when he shot me and stole the chip?”

“A friend from the city contacted me with info on a big job. I should’ve known that the caps were too good to be true, but there was still no way I could pass up the chance.”

Tesla cocked her head a bit at his tone. He didn’t sound greedy. He sounded… desperate. Like he _needed_ the caps, not just _wanted_ them.

Then again, the man was a Khan. He might just have needed the caps for his next fix for all she knew.

“Why did Benny turn on you?”

“He’s a snake, that’s why,” Jessup growled. “He owed us the rest of the pay for the job, so maybe he didn’t wanna pay up.”

“What do you know about the Platinum Chip?” she asked.

“Just a big, fancy poker chip as far as I know. Don’t know why someone would make one out of platinum, though.”

Tesla remained silent as she contemplated all of this. The Khans had been duped, and yeah. They’d helped capture her, but it was _Benny_ who had shot her and rolled her into the hole in the ground.

“Tell you what,” Tesla said. “I’m willing to forgive you the hand you had in my… unfortunate incident. As I proved with that, I’m rather hard to kill.”

Some of the color blanched from Jessup’s face. And he’d just started to get it back. “What’s the catch?”

“We’re gonna have us a little negotiation about the situation between you and the NCR.”

Jessup frowned. “What’s to negotiate? The NCR backs off, we walk outta here, nobody gets hurt.”

“Free the hostages, now, into _my_ custody, and I’ll have the NCR escort you out of their territory. You didn’t technically kill any of their men, so I’m sure they’ll be accommodating.”

Jessup looked down and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hand.

“It’s that or you all die in a hellstorm of hot lead,” Tesla said. “The NCR already considers these hostages acceptable casualties if their hand is forced. Which means they have nothing to lose. Unlike you.”

Jessup sucked in a breath sharply at that. He looked between the Khans standing in the building with him. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he finally said after a few moments of silence, “but alright. The hostages can go. The NCR had better keep their end of the deal, though.” He looked over at one of his men. “You. Go untie the hostages and wait for her to come get them.”

The man nodded and holstered his pistol, quickly heading out of the building.

He turned his eyes back to Tesla. His face calmed a bit, and she could see gratitude in his eyes. He walked out from around the counter to stand in front of her and dug around in his pocket, holding something out to her. “Here. A souvenier.”

Tesla accepted the object and looked down at it. It was a small, silver lighter.

“It’s Benny’s lighter. Shove it up his ass when you catch up with him,” he growled vehemently.

“You know, I might just literally take your advice on that.” She deposited the lighter in her pocket. “Stay here until I finish getting things sorted out with the NCR” Without another word, she left the building.

After several tense minutes, Boone felt himself relax a bit when he saw Tesla walk out of the building unscathed. He kept a close eye on her and everything around her when she walked through a ruined doorway into a different, open part of the building. She disappeared from his sight momentarily, but soon appeared again with the two NCR hostages en toe. He saw as her eyes glanced around the building he was on until they settled on what little she could likely see of him. She motioned with one hand for him to climb back down and meet her at the gate.

Slinging his rifle onto his back he left the crumbling building and made his way to the gate out of the ruins. He was already there when she rounded the corner with the two soldiers. He saw their eyes widen when they saw him, Tesla grinning.

The two soldiers thanked her and quickly left the ruins, Tesla coming to a stop next to Boone.

“Well that was a bit tense,” she said, “but the hostages are free, _and_ I got some damn good information about Benny.”

“That was stupid of you to walk into that building alone,” Boone growled.

“Of course it was,” Tesla laughed. “But I was shot in the head, so I have an excuse for being stupid.”

Boon scowled at her lighthearted tone. “You could’ve been killed.”

Tesla grinned and held up a finger. “But I wasn’t.”

“This time.”

“Oh, Boone. How sweet of you to care,” she said, patting him on the chest before leaving the ruins.

Boone lifted his lip a bit at that. “It’s just logic,” he said, following her through the door. He would never admit to her how relived he’d been to see her walk out of that building unharmed. In fact, he barely wanted to admit it to himself. Why he cared that much about her safety was beyond him. He hadn’t even known her for a week.

But, he supposed, maybe he just didn’t want to see another young woman hurt because of his inability to keep her safe.

The thought clawed through him and he clenched one of his hands into a tight fist.

“Well, your people are safe,” Tesla said when she stopped in front of Lieutenant Monroe.

While his face was surprised, his tone remained calm and even. “I’m glad you were able to get my people free,” he said, “but we have a new problem.”

Tesla cocked a brow. “Oh?”

“I just got orders to take out the Great Khans, hostages or not.”

Tesla furrowed her brow at that. “The Khans let the hostages, let NCR soldiers go, in exchange for their freedom. And now you want to kill them all for it?”

“My hands are tied.”

“Ok. So yeah, they attacked your guys and took two hostage, but you said yourself none of your men were killed. At worse you should take the Khans into custody, not kill them for freeing your people.”

“I can’t go against orders,” the Lieutenant replied.

Tesla crossed her arms. “Can’t you?”

The man said nothing as he seemed to consider this.

“You’re a Lieutenant. Your judgment, and the fact that you’re here and ‘the brass’ isn’t, should count for _something_.” She leveled a piercing glare at the man. “If you have any integrity, _at all_ , if you want the NCR to stand for justice, and not slaughter, you’ll honor. The. Deal.”

Her words clearly struck a chord in the man. “You’re right,” he said. “The Great Khans are free to go.”

Tesla inclined her head to the man.

“And I’ll send word to McCaran,” he said. “Let them know about the good things you did here.”

“Thank you Lieutenant,” she said. She grabbed her duffle bag off the ground, Boone doing the same. “You have a good night.”

She looked over at Boone. “It’s late,” she said. “Doesn’t look like there’s much in the way of places to stay here, so let’s head down the road a bit and find a place to set up camp.”

“There’s a pretty good spot about half a mile out of town,” the Lieutenant offered. “Plenty of cover. You could set up there.

Tesla thanked him then she and Boone headed on their way.

“You know the Khans are a problem in the Mojave,” Boone said once they were a ways down the road. “Lot of drugs come from them. Lot of violence.”

“Your point?”

“Why didn’t you just let him wipe them out?” he asked. “Desert would’ve been a better place without them.”

“Those were just _some_ of the Khans. A small group separated from the rest,” she replied. “Killing them wouldn’t stop the drugs and violence. Besides, they let the hostages go. They promised not to shoot at the NCR, at least in this instance. And this situation has shown that the NCR can operate and produce results without defaulting to violence.

“The lives of two soldiers were saved, soldiers who probably would’ve been killed if the NCR had started attacking again. What’s more, what would people think if they heard the NCR had killed people that had surrendered?”

Boone clenched his teeth.

“Heard that they did something like that before,” she continued. “I’ve heard mention of some sort of massacre at a place called… what was it… Bitter Springs?”

Boone grunted in response.

“Don’t know what actually happened. Just heard some people saying a lot of people were killed that shouldn’t have been,” she said. She glanced over at Boone. He was tenser than she’d ever seen him, and that was saying something about a guy whose default state was tense. She furrowed her brow a bit. “You ok?” she asked.

“Fine,” he growled.

Tesla could tell by the tone of his voice that he was far from fine. _Hm. Must’ve been the whole Bitter Springs comment,_ she thought. She didn’t know when it was that Boone had been discharged, but he was an NCR man through and through. He probably didn’t like hearing anything negative about them.

She looked away from him and scanned the horizon, her eyes falling on a rocky hill that jutted up out of the ground. “That looks like a good place to camp,” she said, pointing at it. It was maybe a quarter mile out of Boulder City and situated next to some train tracks.

Boone looked over. “Sure,” he replied simply.

 _Oh, my. Back to the short answers_ _._ Tesla squinted a bit when she saw something moving toward them. "Wait.... Is that...."

"Fancy meeting you here friend!" Victor called as the robot quickly rolled toward them.

"Victor? How'd you get here?" Tesla called to the approaching securitron.

Victor didn't reply until he was a few feet in front of him, the cowboy on his screen smiling happily at them. "Just rollin' along on my spurs. Looks like I might make it to New Vegas after all," he replied cheerily.

 _"_ Hey, I know this is a _long_ shot since we _just_ saw you in Novac, but did you see Benny come this way?" Tesla asked.

"Fancy-pants? No, I ain’t seen hide-nor-hair of him since the tussle in Goodsprings. I’m sure he ran back to the soft-living of New Vegas, though," he replied.

Tesla chuckled a bit. "Yeah, probably." She paused as she looked at the robot, wondering what the odds were of just so happening to bump into him here. "You know, I’m starting to feel like you’re following me."

"Now, now. It’ ain’t my fault Dorothy and the Tin Man happen to be on the same yellow striped road, is it?"

Tesla couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Well, being the squishy humans we are, Boone and I need to sleep.”

“’Course. Look me up when you get to New Vegas. I’ll buy the first round,” Victor said in an oddly cheery tone before rolling away.

They watched Victor recede into the desert before quietly walking over to the cliff, standing under it. “Well, the ground is fine…” Tesla looked up. She then looked over at Boone and grinned. “How’s your climbing?” she asked.

He looked over at her and furrowed his brow. “What?”

She looked back to the top of the cliff. “I think a couple snipers would feel a little safer at night up in the air, not down on the ground.”

Boone looked up. The cliff curved outward before it reached the top. “If you want to camp up there, I suggest finding a way around.”

“Pft. You can do that if you want.” She shrugged her duffle bag off of her shoulder and onto the ground. Kneeling down she unzipped the bag, pulled out a wound up rope and draped it over her shoulder before closing the bag and approaching the cliff. “This way is more fun.”

“Uh-huh. And what about your bag? Just gonna leave it down here?”

Tesla turned to him and gave him a fake pout. “What? Not gonna carry it for me? Big, strong man like you should be capable of it.”

Boone frowned at her. “Don’t,” he said, a warning in his tone.

“Alright, alright. I get it. Don’t poke the bear,” she turned back to the cliff and started looking for a good handhold. “It’s got two heads but chances are unlikely that either will lick you.” She looked back at him. “You are _extremely_ easy to offend, you know that?” Turning back to the wall, she found her handholds and hoisted herself up, starting to climb. “You really should learn to take a joke,” she said as she climbed, carefully picking out her hand and footholds. “Laughter is healthy. In fact studies have shown that patients that laugh on a regular basis recover from severe injuries faster than those that don’t.”

Tesla swung herself to the side, letting go of the rock so she could move further and catching onto a crevice in the stone. “As for the bag, if you will be so kind as to stay there, I’ll drop a rope when I get to the top and pull them up.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Boone called as she climbed ever higher.

“It’s entirely possible,” Tesla replied. “But the average human comes into any number of things that can kill them every single day. You have any idea how many people die in household accidents? Hell there are even people that die by getting off the toilet wrong. If I could die because I stood up off the shitter wrong, then this could absolutely kill me!” she laughed.

Boone sighed and shook his head. One would think that someone that had been shot in the head would endeavor to be a little more cautious, especially when one was on a mission such as hers, but this woman didn't know the meaning of the word caution.

He almost envied her for that as he watched her scale ever higher up the cliff. Perhaps if he was as reckless as she was he would have reached the end of his road already.

But Tesla wasn't like him. She had a zeal for life that he'd been so long without that he wasn't even sure if he'd ever had it to begin with. And despite the clear risk, she moved like she knew what she was doing. He had to admit, it was impressive. The woman was strong and capable.

She was so different from Carla....

Boone clenched his jaw and looked away. _Stop. Doing that,_ he growled to himself. He told himself he needed to stop comparing her to Carla. He didn't need to be thinking about Tesla that much.

She was just the person he was traveling with, and he needed to keep it that way.


End file.
